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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITEB STATES OF AMERICA. 






MONEY-MAKING 



FOR 



LADIES 



BY 

ELLA RODMAN CHURCH 




NEW YORK 

HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN" SQUARE 

1882 



*>*■■ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by 

HARPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 

All rights reserved. 



INTRODUCTION. 



"I wish I knew how to make some 
money !" says Ysolte of the white hands, 
and she sighs with a feeling of utter in- 
capacity as she says it. 

She has possibly painted some marine 
views on large, white clam - shells, and 
offered them to a shopkeeper to be dis- 
posed of on commission, under cover of 
a thick veil, and with a guilty manner 
that half roused the man's suspicions as 
to whether, like the wares of the brush- 
maker who undersold his neighbor, they 
had not been stolen ready-made. 

Ysolte sympathizes with the crumpet- 
woman who, when crying her wares, 



INTRODUCTION. 



hoped to goodness no one heard her; 
but the public generally do not seem to 
appreciate works of art on clam-shell 
backgrounds — at least, that portion of 
the public who frequent Mr Jones's 
stationery shop ; and the Decorative Art 
Society is equally unenlightened, having 
declined them with a kind note advising 
the artist to study Art ! 

What, then, shall Ysolte do? Her 
case is undoubtedly hard — she is totally 
destitute of a new silk dress, the means 
to purchase Christmas presents, and va- 
rious other comforts and belongings of 
civilized life ; but hope may, perhaps, be 
found for her, and for others of that nu- 
merous class who, while not obliged to 
enter the ranks of recognized working- 
women, strongly feel the need of increas- 
ing a limited income. 



I 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

" People want things to do," said some 
one lately, " and yet there are a hundred 
practicable things undone to-day, for want 
of some one to do them." 

It seems only necessary to bring the 
two together; and some of the sugges- 
tions offered in this little volume may 
be found useful by those who are not 
satisfied with being poor and not fitted 
for hard work. 



CONTENTS. 



Chaptee I. 

THE BOARDING-HOUSE QUESTION. 

Competition. — Improved Methods. — A Lady's Re- 
source. — Requisites for Success. — Short - sight- 
edness of Landladies. — An Inviting Table. — A 
Refined Home. — Boarding-houses for Working- 
men Page 13 

Chapter II. 

THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 

Putting up Preserves for Sale. — Sources for Disposing 
of them. — Quality and Economy. — Popular Kinds. 
— Care in Small Things. — Best Methods of Pre- 
serving. — Low-priced Goods. — Room Higher Up. — 
Showy and Economical Jars. — Brandied. Fruit. — 
Jellies. — Marmalades. — A Lady's Success 28 

Chapter III. 

THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES (Continued). 

Demand and Supply. — "With brains, sir!" — The Pies 
of Boyhood. — " Money in it." — Advantages of Home- 



& CONTENTS. 

made Pies. — A Waiting Market. — "Apple Pye." 
— Good Bread. — The Country Baker. — A New De- 
parture. — Modest Beginnings. — Cheap Restaurants. 
— An Unsupplied Want. — A Bright Idea. — The La- 
dies' Lunch -room. — Division of Labor. — Coffee at 
the Sea-shore. — A Money-making Scheme. — Confec- 
tionery for Watering-places Page 44 

Chapter IV. 

WHAT MAY BE DONE WITH THE NEEDLE. 

Use and Abuse of the Needle. — Ladies 1 Depositories. 
— A Museum of Fancy-work. — Judgment and In- 
vention. — Society of Decorative Art. — Quaint Pro- 
ductions. — Profitable but Unattractive Work. — In- 
dian Bead- work. — An Old Woman's Emery-bags.— 
A Monopoly Desirable. — Small Inventions. — Knit- 
ting and Crocheting. — Dress-making and Millinery. 
— Convenience and Economy. — Travelling Advan- 
tages. — Pins vs. Needles. — Home Dress-making. — 
An Easy Way of Learning. — Private Remunerative 
Work. — A Lady's Experiment. — Observation and 
Ingenuity. — A Neglected Art. — An Establishment 
for Repairs 60 

. Chapter V. 

TEACHING IN ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. 

The Profession of Teaching. — "Classes and Lessons." 
— Ordinary Remuneration. — A Class in Literature. 
— A Few Suggestions. — The Study of Botany. — 
Reading Aloud.— Ordinary Failings. — Reading to 



CONTEXTS. 9 

an Invalid. — Music Lessons. — A Modern Cecilia. — 
Appreciation. — Instruction in Fancy-work. — A Sew- 
ing-school. — A Class in Mending. — An Object to 
Work for. — Cooking-schools. — Teaching as an Ex- 
change Page 77 

Chapter VI. 

LITERATURE AND WRITING. 

"Prose and Worse." — Undeveloped Talent. — Mistaken 
Ideas. — Some Open Doors. — A Mercenary Yiew of 
the Subject. — What to Write About. — Eates of Re- 
muneration. — Literary Giants. — Century Plants. — 
What an Author Needs. — Novel Writing a Trade. 
— Works of Fiction. — Profits of Periodical Litera- 
ture. — Elements of Success. — Value of Advertising. 
— Sensational Writers. — A Lady's Attempt with a 
Dime Novel. — Sunday-school Books. — A List of 
Periodicals. — Writing by Proxy. — Advertisements. 
— Letter - writing. — Legal Copying. — Book - keep- 
ing 90 

Chapter VII. 

ART INDUSTRIES. 

Schools of Design. — Fundamental Instruction.— Im- 
possible Achievements. — Practical Skill in Design- 
ing. — Mechanical Drawing.— Women as Architects. 
— Engraving on Gold and Silver. — The New York 
Society of Decorative Art. — Objects of the Society. 
— A Depot for First-class Work. — Conditions for 
Exhibitors. — China Painting. — The Decoration of 



10 CONTEXTS. 

Fans.— Hand-screens, Plaques, etc.— Door-panels. — 
Illustrations for Books. — A Superfluity of Gen- 
ius Page 110 

Chapter VIII. 

HOUSE-DECORATION. 

Two English Ladies.— The Decorator of the Past.— 
A New Field for Women of Taste and Judgment. — 
The Woman's Province. — How to Begin. — Consci- 
entious Work. — A "House Beautiful." —Farther 
Suggestions.— A Pair of Vases 128 

. Chapter IX. 

SHOPPING ON COMMISSION. AGENCIES. 

Attractions of Shopping on Commission. — Profits Re- 
ceived. — Reasons for Decline. — Comparative Ad- 
vantages of New York and other Places.— Neces- 
sary Qualifications.— Suggestions for a Circular. — 
Advertisements. — Shopping for Friends. — Book 
Agents. — A City Lady's Enterprise.— Characteris- 
tics of Agents.— Encouragement for Ladies. — Miss 
Gr 's Experience. —The Catastrophe. — A De- 
cided Contrast. — Munificent Emoluments. — Other 
Subscription-works.— An Agent by Proxy.— Small 
Wares.— Advantages of Knowing how to Work. 137 

Chapter X. 

GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 

Advantages of a Country Residence. — Value of a Gar- 
den-patch.— What Has Been Done.— Want of En- 



CONTEXTS. 1 1 

terprise. — A Small Garden Well Managed. — What 
a Woman Might Do. — Opportunities in Fruit-rais- 
ing. — The Capabilities of Currants. — A Condensed 
Strawberry Farm. — How to Start and Manage it.— 
Quinces to the Front. — Advantages and Drawbacks. 
— Fruit-growing Generally Page 159 

Chapter XL 

AMONG THE FLOWERS. 

Scarcity of Women Florists. — First Steps. — Building 
a Greenhouse. — Economical Plans. — Variety not 
Desirable. — A Rose Garden under Glass. — Extermi- 
nating Insects. — Heliotrope. — A Market for Cut 
Flowers. — Ferns, Autumn Leaves, Grasses, etc. — A 
Corner Ornament 178 

Chapter XII. 

BEES AND POULTRY. 

Recommendations of Bee-culture. — Profit in Keeping 
Bees. — A Lady's Testimony. — Two Western Girls. 
— How to Prevent Stinging. — "How am I to Be- 
gin?" — Swarming Prevented. — Wintering Bees. — 
Making Honey from Sugar. — Pink Honey. — Profits 
from Kens. — Accommodation for Poultry. — Gener- 
al Care. — A Frenchwoman's Experience. — Roses and 
Honeysuckles. — French Soil. — Horse-flesh as Food. 
— Artificial Hatching. — The Barn-yard Fowl. — A 
Paying Business. — Rules for Successful Poultry- 
raising. — Spring Chickens. — Pigeons. — Proper Shel- 
ter. — Dutchies, or Common Runts, most Profitable. 



12 CONTENTS. 

— A Flock of Turkeys.— Causes of Failure. — Deli- 
cacy of Young Turkeys. — Carefulness in Feeding. 
— Ducks and Geese Page 188 

Chapter XIII. 

A FEW LAST WORDS. 

The Value of Small Things. — Suggestions in News- 
paper Paragraphs. — A Novel Pattern for an Auger. 
— Oyster and Snail Shells. — Improved Milk and 
Butter. — Profit in Tea-packing. — A Little Tea Store. 
■ — Cultivation of Mushrooms. — A Lady's Invention. 
— A Need to be Supplied. — Knowing What to Do. 
—Wasted Energy « 216 



MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 



Chaptee I. 

THE BOARDING-HOUSE* QUESTION. 

Competition. — Improved Methods. — A Lady's Re- 
source. — Requisites for Success. — Short-sightedness 
of Landladies. — An Inviting Table. — A Refined 
Home. — Boarding-houses for Working-men. 

Most of the popular roads to money- 
rnaking are crowded with competitors; 
and those who would find what they 
want are obliged to turn into by-paths 
and make their own roads as they go. 
Sometimes the desired end is accom- 
plished by doing a thing that has long 
been badly done in a more satisfactory 
way; and the occupation of taking board- 
ers will serve to illustrate this theory. 



14 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

The average lady thrown upon her 
own resources, especially if she have 
what is known in such cases as " a roof 
over her head," is almost sure to take 
boarders; and, with the "roof" secured, 
she may, if fortunate in her inmates, feel 
tolerably sure of a comfortable living. 
But to take boarders as a sole depend- 
ence for obtaining the necessaries of life 
is as precarious and harassing an occupa- 
tion as can possibly be found ; especially 
with the risk of hiring a large house and 
furnishing it for the purpose. The case 
is not so difficult with the occupant of 
her own house, who, having a room or 
rooms that can very well be spared, 
chooses to diminish her household ex- 
penses by adding to the number of her 
family. It increases her cares also, but 
money cannot be made in any way with- 
out effort of some kind ; and this is one 
that seems preferable to many others. 



THE BOARDING-HOUSE QUESTION. 15 

To succeed, however, in keeping board- 
ers, either on a large or a small scale, re- 
quires good house-keeping and a certain 
talent for economy — which does not 
mean providing poor things, but getting 
the most for one's money. An econom- 
ical house-keeper, who understands her 
business, will furnish a good table for a 
sum which, in the hands of one who 
thinks only of saving money, will pro- 
duce the most unsatisfactory results. 
The manner of cooking and serving food 
has quite as much to do with its attrac- 
tiveness as the quality of the purchases ; 
and badly-cooked meats and vegetables 
can never be made inviting, whatever 
their original cost may have been. 

There is frequently a kind of airy un- 
concern about those who take boarders, 
in regard to all matters not absolutely 
down in the bond, which is highly exas- 
perating ; and, considering all things, the 



16 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

wonder is not that so many fail in this 
calling, but that any succeed. Were 
it not that there is always an abun- 
dant supply of homeless people in the 
world — people who are homeless from 
necessity, and people who are homeless 
from choice — landladies who trouble 
themselves only about bare necessities 
would oftener find that " it did not pay 
to take boarders." 

Where, for instance, does one engaged 
in looking for board chance to light upon 
a room that has anything of a home look 
about it ? Do not the apartments shown 
rather convey the idea that some one has 
just died there, and everything been dis- 
mantled in consequence? Not a bit of 
drapery to bed or windows — not a brack- 
et or a table-cover — not a cushion or foot- 
stool. The four walls are there — gener- 
ally with an ugly paper on them ; the 
regulation bedstead, bureau, and chairs ; 



THE BOARDING-HOUSE QUESTION. 17 

possibly a hard lounge, but probably 
none at all. What possibilities of cheer- 
fulness are there in such a room, provided 
the unfortunate occupants have no em- 
bellishments of their own with which to 
enliven it? 

"But we cannot afford to ornament 
rooms," say the struggling landladies; 
" it wouldn't pay ; we can hardly make 
both ends meet as it is." 

This is just where they make a mis- 
take; because it ivoidd pay. It would 
pay to drape the windows with cheap 
but tasteful curtains of white muslin or 
cretonne, Canton -flannel, or low-priced 
worsted stuff — to drape the mantel with 
the same, and to have a table-cover to 
match or harmonize. A lounge could be 
improvised from a packing-box, furnished 
with springs and a small hair-mattress, 
and covered to match the draperies. A 
few touches of this kind would completely 



18 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

transform an ugly room into a noticeably 
pretty one ; and the small outlay required 
would prove an excellent investment. 

The proprietor of a small boarding- 
house was lately advised by a friend, 
temporarily occupying a large room 
which the landlady was vainly trying to 
dispose of permanently, to make a few 
such improvements before applicants 
came to inspect it, window-curtains of 
some kind being particularly recom- 
mended. 

" Oh, I mean to get them, if any one 
takes the room," was the reply ; " but as 
long as there is no money coming in, I 
can't afford to spend anything on an un- 
certainty." 

Her friend endeavored to convince her 
that an outlay of ten dollars on the spa- 
cious, bare-looking room would be re- 
turned tenfold, but all to no purpose 
The bedstead and bureau were of wal 



THE BO ARDIXG- HOUSE QUESTION. 19 

nut, while the chairs and small side-table 
were maple ; but " when the room was 
taken," the landlady said, the furniture 
would be properly matched, the other 
walnut articles being then in some other 
part of the house. 

The room was not taken ; and, in all 
probability, the head of that house will 
never succeed in keej3ing boarders or in 
any other occupation. 

A lady who desires to increase her in- 
come by receiving, perhaps, one inmate 
into her family will find no difficulty, if 
she resides in a city, in obtaining an un- 
exceptionable lady or gentleman board- 
er, who is willing to pay liberally for 
the comforts of a refined home. There 
are many such persons who detest board- 
ing-houses, and would gladly dispense 
with a great variety of viands, for the 
sake of having what is put on the table 
made inviting. Even so simple a dish 



20 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

as the popular ante-breakfast course of 
oatmeal is seldom cooked so as to be fit 
to eat. Often brought to the table half 
raw, because so few cooks seem to under- 
stand the immense amount of moderate 
boiling, or simmering, that it requires, 
it quite deserves the name of " chicken- 
feed," by which it is facetiously desig- 
nated. It can be made, however, a very 
delicate and nourishing dish, if served 
with cream or good rich milk. 

It is not necessary in this connection 
to go into the details of breakfast, din- 
ner, and tea — a passing allusion to the 
characteristics of a successful boarding- 
house being all that is required. The 
assertion can be easily proved from facts 
that the people who are fruitlessly seek- 
ing for home-like quarters are far more 
numerous than those who have such 
quarters to offer. It follows, therefore, 
that any lady who will furnish some- 



THE BOARDIXG-HOUSE QUESTION. 21 

thing more attractive than usual will 
Lave no cause to complain of want of 
success. 

The only kind of boarding - house 
which a lady can conduct comfortably 
in person is one that provides a refined 
home for those who are willing to pay 
for its privileges, and who prefer it to 
the care of a home of their own. Half 
a dozen rooms with inmates of this class 
— two or three, perhaps, being rented 
en suite — would bring a much handsomer 
profit, with far less care, than if the num- 
ber were doubled and filled with impe- 
cunious clerks and struggling young 
married couples. 

There should be no threadbare car- 
pets, nor shabby nor sham articles of 
any kind, in this model boarding-house 
of ours; an air of quiet elegance and 
general well-to-do-ativeness should per- 
vade the establishment throughout; 



1>1> MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

there should be an immaculate front en- 
trance, a stand of trailing and growing 
plants in the vestibule, a handsome um- 
brella and hat stand, portieres, if you 
please, to the parlor door- ways, and an 
inhabited look to the parlors themselves; 
for there would be no caravan of Goths 
and Vandals, in the shape of third and 
fourth rate boarders, to pour through 
the house and destroy things, but well- 
bred inmates, who would appreciate their 
advantages too highly to injure them. 

It seems strange to the careful ob- 
server that so little provision, except in 
the way of exorbitant charges, has been 
made for this class; and tastefully- fur- 
nished rooms and a well-appointed table 
are too seldom offered to justify the 
hasty conclusion that they do not pay. 
We feel sure that they idouM pay — for 
such rooms and such a table would com- 
mand almost any price within the bounds 



THE BOARDIXG-HOUSE QUESTION. 23 

of reason ; and the six or eight people 
grouped around the board, arranged as 
if for a small dinner-party, with nothing 
visible but the central stand of flowers 
and the ornamental dessert — while the 
well- trained waiter quietly carves the 
meats at a side-table, and presents the 
dishes to the guests — the lady of the 
house sitting at the head of her table, 
handsomely dressed, and free from all 
anxiety, would feel that a full equiva- 
lent was rendered them for a very hand- 
some outlay. 

Humbler boarding-houses well-con- 
ducted, and especially in manufacturing 
places, would not fail to be appreciated ; 
and clean, comfortable rooms, tastefully 
arranged (for the cheapest things may 
be tasteful), with plain, wholesome food, 
nicely cooked, and varied as much as 
possible, could be made to pay hand- 
somely. The boarders should not be 



24 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

able to say, " Wednesday is always corn- 
ed-beef- and- cabbage day ;" or, " Friday, 
we are sure to have fish — only this, and 
nothing more;" a regular routine of 
viands is inexpressibly wearisome, and 
may easily be avoided by a little good 
management. 

A lady, some years ago, found herself 
reduced, by the death of her husband, 
from affluence to poverty, and left with 
several small children to be supported 
by the work of her own unaided head 
and hands. She would consider no pro- 
posals from friends that she should open 
a fashionable boarding-house; but, se- 
lecting a plain good -sized dwelling in 
the right neighborhood, she managed to 
secure it, probably on the strength of her 
own well-known character, and fitted it 
tip with a view to the especial class of 
people whom she expected to receive as 
boarders. 



THE BOARDIXG-HOUSE QUESTION. 25 

This was the class of mechanics, and 
single men were not only "preferred," 
but insisted on; and as soon as one of 
the inmates married, his place in the es- 
tablishment was forfeited. A dozen oth- 
ers were always ready to step into it; 

for Mrs. D 's boardiug-house was so 

admirably conducted, that waiting hosts 
of outside working-men turned longing 
eyes toward it. The adjoining house 
was speedily added to the first one, and 
as speedily filled ; and, in the course of 
a few years, the enterprising landlady 
owned them both, and was enabled to 
educate her children thoroughly, and 
even to lay up money for their future 
needs. 

The question naturally arises, how did 
this one woman manage to succeed in 
an enterprise that would seem so Httle 
suited to a lady, and the details of which, 
she could scarcely be expected to grasp 



26 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

understandingly ? Practical good -sense 
and quick powers of observation supplied 
in Mrs. D 's case the lack of experi- 
ence; and she furnished at reasonable 
prices an abundance of plain, excellent 
fare, with rooms that could be comforta- 
bly lived in, instead of being used only 
as sleeping-bunks — for even busy work- 
ing - men can appreciate neatness and 
harmonious coloring. 

This lady chose to preside in her own 
dining-room, and even attended to the 
carving, with the aid of an assistant ; and 
the respectful greeting of each man, as 
he entered and took his seat, was an in- 
stinctive recognition of the claims of his 
landlady on his deference and consider- 
ation. 

An establishment of this kind might 
be conducted, through a trustworthy 
deputy, without the appearance of the 
real head of the house ; but Mrs. D 



THE BOARDIXG-HOUSE QUESTION. 27 

was none the less a lady because she 
preferred managing her business in per- 
son, while her expenses were less, and 
her plans more thoroughly carried out, 
than if she had hired a substitute. 



28 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 



Chapter II. 

THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 

Putting up Preserves for Sale. — Sources for Disposing 
of them. — Quality and Economy. — Popular Kinds. 
— Care in Small Things. — Best Methods of Pre- 
serving. — Low-priced Goods. — Room Higher Up. — 
Showy and Economical Jars. — Brandied Fruit. — 
Jellies. — Marmalades. — A Lady's Success. 

Many branches of industry that can 
be pursued in a quiet way suggest them- 
selves in connection with house-keeping; 
and the would-be money-maker who has 
a house of her own will find it a compar- 
atively easy matter to carry out her ob- 
ject. Why should not the carefully-pre- 
pared delicacies so lavishly displayed on 
the table of the ambitious house-keeper 
for the admiration of her friends also be 
converted into a source of revenue? 

Preserved and canned fruits are espe- 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 29 

dally available ; " store preserves " are 
generally insipid, and canned peaches 
from the same source are sure to require 
more sugar, as well as more cooking, be- 
fore they are fit for the table. As sugar 
is a formidable item of expense in put- 
ting up fruit, it is natural for those who 
are trying to keep what they have and 
get all they can, to scant it ; w 7 hile the 
less cooking the fruit gets, the larger and 
firmer it appears. Preserves that are 
free from these defects, and yet manu- 
factured at nearly the same cost, can 
scarcely fail to find a ready market as 
soon as their merits are known ; and a 
lady without much ready money to risk 
could easily try half a dozen jars, which 
she could use for home consumption, in 
the event of their not being disposed of. 
A wise preliminary step would be to 
consult some dealer in such articles as to 
the demand for preserves, the most pop- 



30 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

ular kinds, and the profit to be expected. 
City confectioners and dealers in foreign 
fruits, etc., have opportunities for dispos- 
ing of such delicacies, and will, in most 
cases, be quite willing to undertake it 
on a reasonable commission. A country 
store might possibly do even better, as 
there would be little danger of competi- 
tion ; and in some neighborhoods, where 
the residents are able to indulge in lux- 
uries, the novelty would be so great, as 
well as the relief to house-keepers, that 
such an occupation, if conducted with 
skill and care, could soon be made very 
remunerative. 

In every case, however, where it is 
possible, the business should be trans- 
acted between the producer and the con- 
sumer, to avoid the payment of a com- 
mission to any third party, which makes 
quite a serious difference in the profits. 
Friends are sometimes sufficiently numer- 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 31 

ous and liberal to prevent the need of 
seeking customers among outside parties ; 
and in this way, without any publicity, 
a lady will receive as many orders for 
preserves as she can conveniently at- 
tend to. 

The question has been asked, while 
this book was in progress, " Cannot good 
preserves be bought cheaper than they 
can be made V And various instances , 
were cited, and one well-known firm in 
particular mentioned, of marvellously 
low prices and unexceptionable pre- 
serves. It is not to be supposed that 
ladies are advised in these pages to enter 
into competition with the large canning 
and preserving establishments that do 
their work by machinery, and fill every 
market with it at very moderate prices, 
but merely to produce superior home- 
made articles for a home market. 

There are customers to be found who 



32 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

willingly pay a higher price for appar* 
ently the same article that is offered else- 
where at a considerable discount; but, 
when bought even at the best of the 
large establishments, they cannot feel as 
sure of pure materials and proper modes 
of cooking as when taken from a private 
manufacturer, whose success depends 
upon these very points. Most of the 
preserves, too, that are publicly offered 
for sale have a fine outward appearance, 
but a most insipid taste ; while the pur- 
chaser of cheap brandied fruits runs a 
fearful risk of disease, and even death, 
from the injurious effects of the cheap 
spirits employed in their manufacture. 
Good brandied fruits cannot be made 
cheaply, for the reason that good fruits 
and good brandy are not to be had 
for next to nothing; and those who 
have the sense to know this prefer 
buying such wares at higher rates of 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUXITIES. 33 

a person who will make them consci- 
entiously. 

But they can be made understanding- 
ly as well ; and the lady who is engaged 
in preserving may have some friend 
whose business relations will enable him 
to procure her materials at wholesale 
rates. This lightens the expense in 
some degree, though not so much, with 
good articles, as may generally be sup- 
posed ; and the poet's well-known line, 

"Earth gets its price for what earth gives us," 

is quite applicable here. 

The judicious use of ammonia has 
been recommended as a perfectly legiti- 
mate way of reducing the expense of 
sugar in preserving, as this ingredient is 
quite harmless, and does not affect the 
appearance of the fruit, when properly 
used. In the course of boiling, a small 
quantity should be stirred in and the 
3 



34 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

effect carefully noted. The alkali of the 
ammonia combines with the acid of the 
fruit, producing a neutral reaction which 
permits the sugar to have its full effect. 
If too much ammonia finds its way in, 
the addition of a little vinegar will 
remedy the excess. 

With regard to fruit, happy is she 
who can say, even if it is a travesty, 

"I know a bank where the wild raspberry grows;" 

for the preserving capabilities of this in- 
significant-looking fruit are infinite, and 
it has the advantage over the cultivated 
berry of belonging to any one who will 
take the trouble of gathering it. Rasp- 
berry jam affords an inexhaustible store 
for puddings, tarts, jelly-cake, ices, etc., 
and one can scarcely make too much of 
it. Raspberry jelly and raspberry sirup 
are also popular ; and the rich, beautiful 
color of all these compounds is as pleas- 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 35 

ing to the eye as the taste is to the 
palate. 

Blackberries, too, are valuable in their 
way, though somewhat unpleasantly 
seedy, and are quite popular in the shape 
of jam and jelly and sirup. Strawberry 
preserves are always welcome; peaches 
are taken for granted; the dark -blue 
plums are a delightful combination of 
tart and sweet. But the latter are sel- 
dom offered for sale in the shape of pre- 
serves; and with the fullest of purses 
one cannot easily buy quince marma- 
lade. Guava marmalade, which has to 
be brought from the tropics, is compara- 
tively common; but certain home pre- 
serves are still waiting for some enter- 
prising woman to put their separate ma- 
terials together, and create a demand by 
furnishing a supply. 

To manufacture an article a little dif- 
ferently, or to put it up in a peculiarly 



36 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

attractive form, is almost sure to prove 
a successful enterprise; and, especially 
in the matter of preserving, superior 
workmanship and original devices will 
always bring in satisfactory returns. 

" The French," says a recent writer on 
the subject, "make the clearest, best 
preserves, because they spare no pains. 
They first prepare their sirup or clari- 
fied sugar; then, after neatly and care- 
fully paring or dressing their fruit, cook 
a few pieces at a time, or only as many 
as they can oversee, carefully lifting each 
piece out of the sirup the moment it is 
done. To make clear, good preserves 
requires, first, no economy of trouble; 
second, that the fruit be perfectly fresh — 
alive from the tree or bush, or, as a friend 
says, ' tasting of the sun.' " 

Some persons talk of " having good- 
luck with preserves ;" but the good-luck 
will almost invariably be found to result 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. S7 

from care and experience. A little orig- 
inality, too, goes a great way ; but exper- 
iments out of the beaten track should be 
made with great caution. A little may 
be gleaned here and there from books, 
as well as from practical house-keepers; 
and, after carefully laying the founda- 
tions, the business might be commenced 
on a small scale. 

It must be remembered, however, that 
it is one in which there is great compe- 
tition — the market being fairly flooded 
with low-priced goods that are not cheap 
because of so inferior a quality; and 
that only by providing something better 
than usual, at fairly reasonable rates, can 
any one now entering the field hope to 
make the occupation of preserving at all 
profitable. For those who will do this 
kind of work there is much encourage- 
ment; and a quotation from a volume 
for business men is quite in place here : 



38 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

"A wide range of opportunity for fort- 
une is open to men of enterprise, even in 
the beaten tracks of commerce, by an im- 
provement in the quality of common and 
ordinary articles of export, and in the 
modes of shipping them. By a little 
persevering examination you will readily 
discover articles which, by extra care in 
sending out only the best qualities, and 
put up in such a manner that they will 
retain their quality when they arrive, 
will be certain to bring back satisfactory 
returns." 

"There is always room higher up," 
even in the preserving business ; and the 
Exchange for Woman's Work, in New 
York, which disposes of the best class 
of such goods on commission, says in 
its report that the market only waits 
to be supplied— whatever is really good 
is sold, and there is a clamorous call for 
more. 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 39 

In putting up preserves the clearest 
and whitest jars should be selected, as 
the fruit is then displayed to the best 
advantage ; and, although tin cans have 
the advantage of keeping their contents 
so perfectly air-tight that fermentation 
is impossible, they are very inferior in 
appearance to the glass bottles, and not 
satisfactory to the purchaser, who is thus 
prevented from seeing the goods without 
opening them. The ordinary glass can- 
ning jars, sold as quarts and pints, con- 
sume an inordinate amount of fruit, if 
put in at all closely ; and the best and 
most ornamental receptacles are the 
French bottles — also called quarts, but 
not requiring so much to fill them — 
which can probably be obtained from 
the large wholesale dealers in such 
wares. 

One dollar and fifty cents per quart 
jar is the current price for superior 



40 MOXEY-MAKIXG FOR LADIES. 

brandied fruit, while ordinary preserves 
sell somewhat lower ; but when any kind 
of fruit is scarce and dear, the price of 
that particular kind of preserve must 
advance in proportion. 

Jellies of almost every kind are sala- 
ble, and for currant jelly especially there 
is a constant demand, as it is indispensa- 
ble with game and venison. Nothing, 
perhaps, affords a better illustration than 
currant jelly of the advantages to be de- 
rived from doing a thing in the best 
possible manner, and then putting it up 
in an attractive shape. Red and white 
currants mixed make the prettiest col- 
or; and in some cases it would pay to 
make the white and red separately, and 
let it harden in alternate layers in the 
receptacles. This makes it very orna- 
mental for the table, and such moulds 
would probably be in demand for din- 
ner-parties. 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 41 

Clearness and color are, of course, -es- 
sentials in jelly -making, and to secure 
the desired results every detail must be 
carefully attended to. These begin with 
the picking of the fruit; and it is ad- 
vised to " gather the fruit early, as soon 
as fully ripe, since the pulp softens and 
the juice is less rich if allowed to remain 
long after ripening. In our climate, the 
first week in July is usually considered 
the time to make currant jelly. Never 
gather currants or other soft or small 
seed fruit immediately after rain, for pre- 
serving purposes, as they are greatly im- 
poverished by the moisture absorbed." 

Marmalades, and especially those 
made of quince, are also in demand ; by 
hardening them in sheets, and then cut- 
ting in small squares, sprinkled with 
white sugar, they may be put up as dry 
confections, and meet with a ready sale. 
This class of preserves utilizes all the 



42 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

imperfect fruit, which must otherwise be 
discarded, as spoiling the effect of the 
large, handsome specimens that are in- 
dispensable when the fruit is to be seen 
entire ; but, when all is mashed together, 
all that is necessary is to take out any 
marks of decay, as mutilation does not 
show. 

A lady living in the country on, or 
near, a fruit farm has great advantages, 
in the way of preserving, over her city 
sisters, as the fruit can then be gathered 
to " taste of the sun," besides costing lit- 
tle or nothing. Transportation of goods, 
within any reasonable distance, is but a 
slight additional expense, and a matter 
very easily managed. 

The case of a lady was lately quoted 
who, with a superabundance of fruit on 
her premises that could not be disposed 
of, finally decided to convert it into pre- 
serves, and seek a market for it in that 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 43 

form. Her experiment has proved emi- 
nently successful ; and, being fortunate 
enough to find a home sale for all the 
preserves she can make, she is now in 
the receipt of a very handsome income. 



44 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 



Chapter III. 

THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 

{Continued.) 

Demand and Supply. — "With brains, sir! 1 ' — The Pies 
of Boyhood. — " Money in it." — Advantages of Home- 
made Pies. — A Waiting Market. — "Apple Pye." 
— Good Bread. — The Country Baker. — A New De- 
parture. — Modest Beginnings. — Cheap Restaurants. 
— An Unsupplied Want. — A Bright Idea. — The La- 
dies' Lunch -room. — Division of Labor. — Coffee at 
the Sea-shore. — A Money-making Scheme. — Confec- 
tionery for Watering-places. 

A good house-keeper will be able to 
make her knowledge remunerative in 
many ways; and she will soon discover 
that those who are able to supply a 
daily recurring want, as in the case of 
well-prepared food, have no need to seek 
far for constant employment. People 
are always wanting things to eat, and 
eat they will, though other wants may 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 45 

go unsatisfied; hence, those who can 
cater to this general weakness will suc- 
ceed where learning and culture fail. 

Not that the learning and culture 
would be amiss even in this very prac- 
tical calling — for, if Biddy's mistress had 
Biddy's muscle, she would do the Irish 
girl's work far better than the Irish girl 
does it herself; " with brains, sir !" be- 
ing not only an addition, but a manifest 
improvement, to any combination. A 
good cook is quite as likely to be found 
in an accomplished lady as in the red- 
visaged denizen of the kitchen ; and 
many of those reduced from wealth to 
comparative poverty have quietly turn- 
ed their culinary talents to practical ac- 
count. 

Home-made pies and cake, of that ineffa- 
ble character which men's mothers always 
made when they were boys, are harder to 
find than four-leaved clovers; and the 



46 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

success of such exceptional viands is al- 
most assured. There is even a tradition 
that, some years ago, a woman actually 
bought a farm with the proceeds of pie- 
making; but she sold her manufactures 
herself, and hired no assistants. It is 
something like those marvellous tales of 
German farmers on diminutive plots of 
ground, who contrive to make one acre 
yield the products of ten — a feat which 
is accomplished by being their own farm- 
ers, hired hands, and errand-boys, and by 
wasting nothing. 

Money can certainly be made, howev 
er, by the most retiring lady in manu 
facturing excellent home-made pies and 
cake where there is a market for them 
and this can be found in any city or 
town of much size. Country house 
keepers would feel insulted by the bare 
suggestion that they were not able and 
willing to make their own pies and cake, 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 47 

although many of them are not ; but 
dwellers in cities have no such sensi- 
tiveness. 

Deft fingers with pastry, that can turn 
out plump, juicy pies of apples in slices, 
thoroughly cooked, and flavored with 
cinnamon and orange-peel — those of 
pumpkin deep, moist, and good in every 
w r ay, and others in their season — would 
find no difficulty, after a little patient 
waiting, perhaps, in meeting with a ready 
sale for them. People would flock after 

Mrs. E 's home-made pies, as they 

would after Mrs. D 's home-made 

preserves ; and the agreeable change 
from strong butter in the paste, and very 
little of anything in the inside, to crust 
of flaky sweetness and liberal " filling," 
could not fail to be appreciated. 

Just at first, perhaps, the profit might 
scarcely pay for the trouble, but a little 
practice would soon teach the beginner 



48 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

how to buy materials in quantities at a 
saving, and to use them with discretion. 
It would not be difficult in the city to 
find a suitable person to carry the pies 
around for sale; and there are many 
business places where they would be 
warmly welcomed at lunch -time, espe- 
cially if made in the form of tarts and 
turnovers. An enterprising lady could 
do well when her pies became popular; 
and it is rather surprising that no one 
has tried the experiment to any extent — 
that is, no really good, home-made pies* 
have been offered for sale in this way; 
and, because poor ones have not been 
particularly popular, there is no reason 
for discouragement where good ones are 
concerned. 

Both pies and cake could probably be 
introduced into the same market where 
preserves are welcomed ; and, with the 
help of a competent assistant, a lady 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 49 

could easily supply a large daily de- 
mand. She would do well, perhaps, to 
consider a recipe, not far from two cen- 
turies old, called 

"APPLE PYE." 

" Dear Nelly, learn with Care the Pastry Art, 
And mind the easy Precepts I impart ; 
Draw out your Dough elaborately thin, 
And cease not to fatigue your Rolling Pin. 
Of Eggs and Butter see you mix enough, 
For then the Paste will swell into a Puff, 
Which will in crumpling Sounds your Praise report, 
And eat, as Housewives speak, exceeding short. 1 ' 

Did any one ever visit a country vil- 
lage where good bread could be bought, 
or where even tolerable bread was offered 
for sale % The great want of such a place 
is a decent bakery, where bread worth 
the eating, biscuits of undoubted charac- 
ter, and good plain cake could be bought. 
Pies of a like nature might be added 
here ; and, with everything good of its 
kind, and sufficiently reasonable in price, 
4 



50 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

the projector of such an unusual enter- 
prise could make it an abundantly pay- 
ing one. 

Baker's bread, in the country, is almost 
invariably dingy of hue and tough of 
texture ; and as to the cakes, or " buns," 
with their speckled tops, one feels like 
asking which are currants and which are 
flies, even at the risk of the traditionary 
answer, " You pays your penny, and you 
takes your choice." The pies which ac- 
company such bread and cake are not 
to be thought of, except in the shape of 
dark mysteries. 

In view of this state of things, a depot, 
however unpretending, where eatable 
bread could be had for the buying, with 
the addition of thoroughly good pies 
and cake, would surely flourish ; and it 
might begin on a very small scale indeed. 
A lady's kitchen would furnish all nec- 
essary weapons of war, and the services 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 51 

of a person to perforin the heaviest labor 
could be secured by the day, week, or 
month. A respectable woman could, 
doubtless, be found to " tend store " for 
a reasonable consideration; and, when 
all the wheels of the machinery were 
fairly in running order, the proprietor 
would find herself in possession of a 
substantial business, that must, in the 
nature of things, prove a lasting one. 

As the want is one constantly com- 
plained of in country villages — each fam- 
ily being obliged to do its own baking, 
no matter how inconvenient or unwel- 
come the task, with the worse alterna- 
tive of getting their daily supplies from 
the baker's wagon — a well-managed en- 
terprise of this kind seems to have in it 
all the elements of success. The little 
shop might begin in a portion of some 
one else's store, or even in a room of the 
dwelling where the highly -respectable 



52 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

" lady attendant" abides; and a moderate 
trade in confectionery might grow up by 
degrees under the wing, as it were, of the 
staff of life. Ice-cream, in warm weath- 
er, would also prove remunerative ; and 
there is room, through the length and 
breadth of the land, for an infinity of 
these delightful little bakeries, in which 
ladies can not only make money, but find 
themselves in the position of public ben- 
efactresses. 

This is the day of cheap restaurants, 
where pavement -boys, venders of news- 
papers, bootblacks, and the like can get 
a comfortable meal for a few cents ; and 
in far, down-town localities, where busi- 
ness men congregate, a dime or two will 
procure good meat, bread, milk, tea or 
coffee, and something quite eatable in 
the way of dessert. 

But for ladies there are no such es- 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 53 

tablishnients ; the down-town places are 
too far off, and within a reasonable shop- 
ping radius there are only the confection- 
ers, with high prices and unsatisfactory 
viands. The restaurants established in 
immense dry goods emporiums in neigh- 
boring cities are largely patronized for 
convenience' sake, and must bring large 
revenues to their proprietors ; but a lady 
who lately entered one of these apart- 
ments, for the purpose of obtaining a 
much-needed lunch, gives anything but 
a favorable report of her experience. 
The crowd had in a measure dispersed, 
and the new-comer could take her choice 
of several disorderly-looking tables, with 
soiled cloths and the crumbs of the last 
feast. A pert-looking girl came very near 
to get some ice-cream for another customer, 
but vouchsafed no reply to the lady's re- 
quest for a bill of fare; and a colored wait- 
er persistently disregarded her signals. 



54 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

After five or ten minutes of fruitless 
waiting, the lady, whose time was pre- 
cious, rose up in wrath ; and, meeting a 
person who was probably known as the 
" lady superintendent," she informed her 
that she was leaving the place because 
she could get no attention. Everything 
in the way of attention was immediately 
promised ; but the customer did not find 
the soiled table-cloths appetizing, and 
wended her way on her various missions 
without any lunch at all. 

As she walked on, however, decidedly 
faint and exhausted, she pictured to her- 
self a model lunch-room, intended solely 
for ladies — the strong point to consist of 
excellent coffee, supplemented by home- 
made bread, both white and brown, 
and the napery and appointments to 
be immaculate. What a chance, she 
thought, for some enterprising woman 
to make a fortune ! And why, in the 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 55 

name of common -sense, did not such a 
woman open just such a restaurant as 
close as possible to some great shop- 
ping centre ? 

By getting her materials in large 
quantities, and paying ready money for 
them, she would find it practicable to 
charge moderate prices, and yet realize 
a handsome profit. The mere fact, for 
instance, of charging five cents a cup 
for coffee, instead of ten, and yet furnish- 
ing an unexceptionable beverage, would 
bring her a constant run of custom ; and 
the bill of fare could be extended by 
degrees, as there seemed occasion for 
it. A small sum of money would go a 
great way in starting such an estab- 
lishment, which, at first, could be con- 
ducted in one room, with a curtain 
screen to conceal the little stove, with 
its coffee apparatus — the bread being 
made at home ; and a respectable, pleas- 



56 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

ant-spoken woman could be engaged as 
an attendant. 

This would be an experiment on a 
moderate scale, and the returns would 
come in daily. The bill of fare could be 
extended as circumstances required ; and, 
all things considered, the field seems a 
particularly promising one. 

" But," remonstrates Ysolte, helplessly, 
" what has this to do with me ? I am 
not a house-keeper, and cannot set up a 
restaurant." 

Then she can go into partnership with 
some friend who is a house-keeper; or, 
if she has no available friend, she can 
probably find, by careful search, some 
worthy woman who will be only too 
glad to do her cooking for a fair con- 
sideration ; while the other worthy wom- 
an who presides over the lunch -room 
can easily mauage the coffee. The few 
articles needed at first can be collected 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 57 

very cheaply; and, if situated in the 
right neighborhood, there will be no 
lack of custom. 



There is a want yet to be supplied at 
sea-shore places of resort, and a want, 
too, that, strangely enough, seems to 
have entirely escaped the notice of those 
who prey upon the seekers after health 
and pleasure. This is the cup of fra- 
grant coffee that always follows the 
Turkish bath, but which has as yet 
had no connection with a plunge into 
the ocean. 

An excellent opportunity for money- 
making here offers itself to any one who 
is capable of carrying out such an enter- 
prise. Few bathers would not be will- 
ing to pay ten cents for the refreshment 
of an excellent cup of coffee at the very 
time when it is most wanted ; and its 
reviving effects are particularly notice- 



58 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

able after the fatigues of bathing and 
getting dressed again. 

The coffee could be served in some 
place close at hand, or it might be car- 
ried around on waiters; but it should 
invariably be hot and strong, and able 
to bear the closest criticism. A woman 
to make the coffee, with an assistant to 
help her pour it out, and boys or girls 
to carry it around, would constitute the 
needed corps; while the proprietor might 
disport herself among the bathers, and 
even partake of a cup of her own coffee, 
if she felt so inclined. 

Confectionery is always a popular ar- 
ticle of merchandize at watering-places ; 
and anything a little out of the common 
way, if good as well, would be received 
with favor. Whether bought or home- 
made, if nicely put up in boxes of a con- 
venient size and sold at a reasonable 



THE HOUSE-KEEPER'S OPPORTUNITIES. 59 

price, the demand for it would be quite 
extensive. 

An arrangement might be made with 
the hotel-keeper, or with some one liv- 
ing in the place, to undertake the sale ; 
but ordinary ingenuity will furnish meth- 
ods for accomplishing this according to 
the circumstances of the case. 



60 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

Chapter IV. 

WHAT MAY BE DONE WITH THE NEEDLE. 

Use and Abuse of the Needle. — Ladies' Depositories. 
— A Museum of Fancy-work. — Judgment and In- 
vention. — Society of Decorative Art. — Quaint Pro- 
ductions. — Profitable but Unattractive Work. — In- 
dian Bead-work. — An Old Woman's Emery-bags.— 
A Monopoly Desirable. — Small Inventions. — Knit- 
ting and Crocheting. — Dress-making and Millinery. 
— Convenience and Economy. — Travelling Advan- 
tages. — Pins vs. Needles. — Home Dress-making. — 
An Easy Way of Learning. — Private Remunerative 
Work. — A Lady's Experiment. — Observation and 
Ingenuity. — A Neglected Art. — An Establishment 
for Repairs. 

A deft use of the needle is a par- 
ticularly lady-like accomplishment; but 
plain sewing is hard and wearing work, 
and, since the introduction of sewing- 
machines, it is, when " done by hand," 
anything but remunerative. As an es- 
sentially feminine implement, the needle 



THE XEEDLE. 61 

had always been a great favorite with 
poets and writers, until the " Song of 
the Shirt " opened their eyes to the evils 
caused by an excessive use of it; and 
scarcely a more affecting picture can be 
drawn than that of a poor, half-starved 
needle- woman bending over her daily 
toil. 

In all the large cities there are empo- 
riums, generally known as Ladies' De- 
positories, where ladies (fo'r whose ben- 
efit they are intended) can deposit arti- 
cles of needle- work made by them for 
sale, receiving the proceeds when sold, 
after the deduction of the usual ten per 
cent, commission ; while ladies who want 
work done deposit it there to be given 
out to the proper persons. All kinds 
of plain sewing and embroidery are done 
through these establishments ; but only 
first-class work is accepted, as the prices 
paid are very liberal. 



62 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

These institutions have proved per- 
fect boons to many poor, proud ones, 
who could not bring themselves openly 
to join the ranks of sewing-women, and 
yet whose only power lay in a skilful 
use of the needle. A perfect museum 
of fancy-work, beautifully executed, and 
often showing taste and originality in 
the combinations, is displayed in win- 
dows and cases; and it is saddening to 
see such an apparently inexhaustible 
supply of pin -cushions, and tidies, and 
babies' socks, and afghans, and every 
fanciful allurement that can be thought 
of to open the purses of wealthy visi- 
tors, because there are so few purchasers 
in proportion to the supply. 

The best season for the sale of such 
articles is during the month before the 
Christmas holidays, when an inventive 
fancy and dexterous fingers may be turn- 
ed to good account. The surest element 



THE NEEDLE. 63 

of success is to produce something that 
is original, and at the same time in de- 
mand; and inexpensive trifles will sell 
much more readily than elaborate pieces 
of work. 

The Society of Decorative Art is very 
much the same thing on a higher scale, 
hand -painting and artistic embroidery 
being the only accomplishments that 
find admission there. Very beautiful 
work is displayed, and high prices are 
paid to those who come up to the stand- 
ard required; but, to do this, careful 
study is necessary, and considerable out- 
lay both of time and money. 

Ordinarily, the sale of fancy-work de- 
pends upon the place and the season as 
much as upon the workmanship. In 
some quaint, sea-shore places shell-work, 
which in cities is thought too antiquated 
to be worthy of notice, is largely in de- 
mand ; and in one sandy retreat, not nn- 



64 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

known to fame, a maiden lady partly 
supports herself by her " shell pieces." 
These are composed of small shells and 
fragments of coral, dotted over a mass 
of sea-weed that issues from a diminu- 
tive basket, or, rather, from the flat half 
of it — all of which is glued on a founda- 
tion of card-board, ready for the frame, 
which is added by the purchaser. 

Numbers of these works of art are 
carried away as mementos of the place ; 
and some of them are really pretty. The 
handsomest ones, in which a flat pearl 
shell of lovely, changeful sheen is substi- 
tuted for the basket, are sold for several 
dollars apiece. A peep, however, into 
the work-room, back of the shop, where 
the shell- artist stains her hands with 
powerful acids that are used to bring 
out the beauty of the shells, is not cal- 
culated to attract fastidious ladies to 
this occupation. 



THE XEEDLE. 65 

Indian bead-work has its attractions 
when bought of Indians, and some ladies 
manufacture it on a very elaborate scale 
for fancy fairs; but what could a city 
shopkeeper do with it % Who would 
care for the crosses and trinkets made 
of table-rock away from Niagara ? 

Some years ago a poor old woman, 
whose eyesight was exceptionally good, 
helped to support herself and a family 
of grandchildren by making emery-bags. 
The strawberries, both white and red, 
with their clearly - defined green hulls, 
were wonderfully natural -looking, some 
being made of flannel, and some of vel- 
vet, and varying in price, according to 
the material ; and a ready sale was found 
for these useful little articles amons; the 
ladies who took an interest in the aged 
needle- woman. The materials, fortunate- 
ly, cost her nothing — bits of flannel, vel- 
vet, and silk being furnished by the la- 
5 



66 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

dies themselves; while the emery, which 
was of the very best quality, was the 
gift of a dealer in such goods. 

Almost any one small article for 
which there is a demand, and especially 
one of which the manufacturer, as in- 
ventor also, has the monopoly, will bring 
in better returns than a variety of arti- 
cles of less decided popularity. One 
reason for this can probably be found 
in the fact that, when the powers are 
concentrated on the doing of one thing 
only, that thing is sure to be done ex- 
ceptionally well. 

Any invention that pleases children 
is an open sesame to their parents' 
purses; and a quick-witted young lady 
has netted herself into quite a profitable 
little business by making hammocks for 
dolls. These little hammocks are made 
both of silk and cotton, of prettily con- 
trasting colors, and finished with dainty 



THE NEEDLE. 67 

bows of ribbon where they are sus- 
pended. To have one's beloved Flor- 
ence Arabella gently swaying to and fro 
(a miniature edition of Sister Lil, who, 
with aesthetic attire and the last novel, 
is doing the same thing in a shaded cor- 
ner of the veranda) in a hammock of her 
own is infinitely delicious to the juvenile 
mind ; and it is easy to believe that such 
an article, as the advertisers say, " sells 
at sight." 

Some ladies knit and crochet with 
such dexterity that their work is much 
in demand ; and, although the stores pay 
very poorly for this kind of labor, pri- 
vate orders are often received through 
friends that make it worth the doing. 
One or two hundred dollars a year can 
be very pleasantly earned by working 
w T ith soft, bright wools, and making pret- 
ty articles in one's leisure hours. There 
is, however, no regular demand for this 



68 MONEY-MAKING FOK LADIES. 

kind of manufactures, and such orders 
are usually the result of good fortune 
and influence — fancy-work of any kind 
being a very poor staff to lean upon. 

Dress-making and millinery, which, if 
such a term is allowable, may be called 
fancy plain sewing, are particularly sat- 
isfactory in their results. 

There is a very general belief that 
dress-makers and milliners are born, in- 
stead of being made; and this idea is 
verified by the ease with which some 
persons, without the least instruction, 
will take up the making of dresses or 
bonnets, and turn out work that would 
be creditable to those regularly ap- 
prenticed to the trade. When only 
put to home uses the gift is a most 
convenient one, and a saving both of 
trouble and money; for good dress- 
makers, at reasonable prices, are as rare 



THE NEEDLE. 69 

as good servants, and good milliners 
equally so. 

If there is truth in the homely adage 
that a penny saved is a penny gained, 
economy may be considered in the light 
of money-making; and that there is a 
great saving in the making of one's own 
dresses and bonnets is an undisputed 
fact. Less material is required ; things 
can be made to " do," in the way of lin- 
ings and trimmings, that would be most 
contemptuously regarded by a profes- 
sional lady, and a delightful feeling of 
independence is attained by having one's 
dress-maker and milliner always at hand 
for repairs and alterations. 

The convenience of this in travelling, 
or while on a visit, can scarcely be exag- 
gerated ; and, in packing things into a 
small compass, the lady who does her 
own millinery can indulge in three or 
four hats, where her more helpless sister 



70 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

could allow herself but one. To effect 
this, the hats are entirely stripped of 
trimming — the feathers, flowers, ribbons, 
etc., carefully laid in the tray or box pre- 
pared for them — while the denuded skel- 
etons are placed one within another, as 
at the hatters, and stowed with the small- 
est amount of attention or respect just 
where they will go conveniently. 

It is an assured fact that one phase 
of the unpacking consists in reclothing 
these naked hats — a thing that is easily 
done with the help of a few pins, a twist 
or two, and a stitch here and there. 
Amateur milliners advocate the use of 
pins rather than of needles ; but profes- 
sionals may not endorse this theory. 

The dress -maker, too, can divest her 
handiwork of any trimming or draping 
that might be injured by close packing, 
secure in the power of being able to re- 
store each flounce and fold to its origi- 



THE NEEDLE. 71 

nal place, as soon as the time has come 
for the garment to emerge from its chrys- 
alis state. 

In a family of several daughters, even 
where there is a reasonable supply of 
money, an aptness for dress-making and 
millinery is a gift to be cultivated. One 
paterfamilias offered his eldest daugh- 
ter a new dress for every dress of similar 
value that she made satisfactorily for her- 
self, or for any other member of the fami- 
ly; and the young lady applied herself 
so diligently to the art, that her ward- 
robe was the wonder and admiration of 
all her friends. 

When it is a possible thing for a lady 
to acquire this useful knowledge, she 
should not hesitate to do so; and some 
good dress-makers and milliners are now 
willing to receive pupils in place of ap- 
prentices. If regular instruction is not 
available, a great deal may be learned 



72 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

by taking an old dress or bonnet to 
pieces, to see how it is put together ; and 
this, with the aid of the excellent pat- 
terns that are sold everywhere, would 
enable almost any one to achieve a fair 
degree of success. 

Any lady with some degree of taste in 
this branch of needle-work will be able 
to make it profitable in a moderate way 
among her friends, who will be glad 
enough to secure work worthy, perhaps, 
of a first-class modiste at not more than 
half her charges. The workers, on the 
other hand, feel that they are well remu- 
nerated, and are thankful to obtain new 
bonnets and dresses for themselves by 
fashioning those of their friends. 

The millinery business is said to be 
extremely profitable; and two ladies, 
who were desirous of obtaining money 
for a certain purpose, were once engaged 
in it for a year in a somewhat novel way. 



THE XEEDLE. 73 

One partner had all the artistic taste, 
and made the bonnets, which were charm- 
ing; the other was of a practical, busi- 
ness turn, and attended to the purchases 
and the account-keeping. A room was 
hired in a desirable locality, and a trust- 
worthy saleswoman placed in it; while 
the real proprietors were never supposed 
to be connected with the establishment 
at all. 

These enterprising ladies realized a 
handsome profit, and retired at the end 
of a year with their purpose fully accom- 
plished, 

A milliner in a country village is sure 
to become well-to-do, at least; and one 
with taste and a knowledge of busi- 
ness might do much better than this. 
Quick powers of observation are neces- 
sary to success, as well as the ability to 
originate styles, and to combine and 
arrange trimmings effectively. A man- 



74 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

milliner complained that he walked out 
on the most public thoroughfare for the 
express purpose of studying the different 
styles, but that none of the women whom 
he employed as assistants ever did so. 

Some persons can almost in a single 
glance make a novelty their own ; and 
these are born milliners and dress-makers. 
Others can gaze for a few moments in a 
window, and then come home and cut 
their own patterns, giving just the right 
look to every part. Such women need 
never be in want — they carry a fortune 
in their quick eyes and nimble fingers. 

That branch of needle-work known as 
mending is often sadly neglected, and 
the exquisitely regular, back-and-forth 
darning of a past generation usually ex- 
cites comments on the " waste " of the 
time bestowed upon it. Some things are 
worth mending and others are not; but, 



THE XEEDLE. 75 

as a general rule, if a thing is worth 
mending at all, it is worth mending well. 

To understand mending thoroughly is 
a great aid to economy ; and the patch 
put on by a thread, and sewed with al- 
most invisible stitches, often saves a val- 
uable garment, without materially affect- 
ing its appearance. To regard mending, 
however, in the light of a money-making 
industry is so much of a novelty, that 
the following paragraph from a daily 
paper will be read with interest : 

"It is somew r hat singular that, among 
the many devices resorted to by women 
for the purpose of earning a livelihood, 
it has not yet dawned upon the con- 
sciousness of some enterprising females 
that general repair establishments could 
be made grand successes in large cities. 
Just where the thousands of young men 
who are away from their mothers, sisters, 
or aunts get their mending done is a 



76 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

mystery. That it is done by somebody, 
there is no doubt; but, if there were 
places where a shirt, a pair of stockings, 
drawers, pantaloons, or any other gar- 
ment could be sent to be mended, with 
the assurance that it would be neatly 
and cheaply done, there would be no 
lack of patronage. Many families would 
avail themselves of such facilities, for 
there is no duty incumbent upon the 
female head of the house more gener- 
ally distasteful than that of repairing 
clothing. 

" We throw out these suggestions for 
the benefit of whom they may concern. 
There are many splendid openings for 
such repair shops in ; and the en- 
terprising woman who opens the first 
one will be well rewarded, if she does 
it in a proper way." 



TEACHING IN ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. ^ 



Chapter V. 

TEACHING IN ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. 

The Profession of Teaching. — "Classes and Lessons." 
— Ordinary Remuneration. — A Class in Literature. 
— A Few Suggestions. — The Study of Botany. — 
Reading Aloud. — Ordinary Failings. — Reading to 
an Invalid. — Music Lessons. — A Modern Cecilia. — 
Appreciation. — Instruction in Fancy-work. — A Sew- 
ing-school. — A Class in Mending. — An Object to 
Work for. — Cooking-schools. — Teaching as an Ex- 
change. 

HavenCt considered the various 
branches which come under the heads 
of house-keeping and needle- work, there 
now remains for discussion the profes- 
sion of teaching, as the last of the three 
legitimate occupations for ladies in what 
might be called the Dark Ages of wom- 
en's work. 

Teaching, in spite of its care and anx- 



78 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

iety and wearying, tread-mill round of 
duties, has always been a popular em- 
ployment with the educated — principal- 
ly because it is one of the few means 
of money-making in which a lady may 
openly engage without compromising her 
social standing. 

There are many who, without being 
able to give all their time to teaching, 
would gladly be so engaged for two or 
three days of the week, or two or three 
hours of each day; and "classes" and 
"lessons" have multiplied so of late 
years that a qualified instructor seldom 
experiences any difficulty in carrying out 
such a plan. In a large city there are 
often to be found fully-grown, and even 
middle-aged, people desirous of instruc- 
tion, because of a lack of early advan- 
tages; and a lady with influential rec- 
ommendations — and even without them, 
through some happy accident — can usual- 



TEACHING IN ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. 79 

ly find occupation among this class for 
an hour or two of the day. 

The price for such instruction varies 
from fifty cents to a dollar an hour, 
even exceeding this in some cases; and 
a well- worded advertisement in a daily 
journal will seldom fail to bring pupils 
to the would-be teachers. The pupils 
themselves sometimes advertise for teach- 
ers; and it is the custom to furnish re- 
sponsible references on both sides. 

A class in literature is a delightful 
employment for those who are qualified 
to engage in it, and one that is always 
well remunerated. In the cities such 
positions are apt to be filled to overflow- 
ing; but in small towns and country 
places opportunities of this kind are not 
so numerous. It would not be difficult, 
within a distance, perhaps, of two or 
three miles, to collect a class of young 
girls who would be glad to avail them- 



80 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

selves of the services of a lady competent 
to direct their reading, and introduce 
them into the higher walks of literature. 

A class which met twice a week, pay- 
ing fifty cents each for a lesson, would 
yield a very nice weekly sum for the 
amount of time given, and would also 
be a very pleasant means of increasing 
one's spending -money. Those who feel 
distrustful of their own powers in an at- 
tempt to guide others would find some 
useful hints in a small volume called 
" A Course of English Reading." This 
contains many valuable suggestions in 
regard to particular lines of reading and 
study that could be turned to good ac- 
count by any one beginning a class in 
literature. 

The study of botany, which might be 
conducted in quite an original manner 
by reading in connection what old poets 
and new have written on the subject of 



TEACHING IN ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. 81 

flowers, could thus be made particularly 
attractive, involving picnics and various 
excursions, with charming collections for 
gardens and vases. 

With a teacher capable of making 
things as interesting as they could be 
made, such classes would be found emi- 
nently successful even in the smallest 
place: and many unappropriated fields 
are ready for the experiment. 

The advantages of good reading — read- 
ing aloud for the pleasure of others — 
are beginning to be appreciated; and a 
properly qualified teacher, not of " elocu- 
tion" — which always suggests making 
up faces and speaking a piece — but of 
easy, unconstrained reading aloud, would 
seldom fail to obtain sufficient encour- 
agement. So many books are now to be 
had on the proper management of the 
voice, that almost any lady, with ordina- 
6 



82 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

lily good vocal powers, could soon reme- 
dy the defects in her own reading, and 
make herself competent to instruct others. 

Heading aloud is too often performed 
in a high-pitched, unnatural tone, with as 
little regard to final d^s and g's as pre- 
vails among other speakers of the Eng- 
lish tongue in their dealings with the 
letter h. These faults once overcome, a 
natural, conversational style is not diffi- 
cult to acquire ; and reading-classes, with 
a fair and good-natured contest at the 
end of a term for a prize to the best 
reader, could be made quite popular in 
the list of village enjoyments in winter. 

Occasionally, a good reader will be 
able to find a couple of hours' daily em- 
ployment in reading aloud to an invalid, 
or one whose eyes will not bear use ; but 
such opportunities are not of frequent 
occurrence, being in many cases only a 
delicate ruse on the part of the wealthy 



TEACHING IX ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. 83 

to put money into the hand of a poor 
but proud friend. Such an engagement, 
however, can sometimes be made even 
with strangers, and there are few more 
agreeable ways of earning a regular 
salary. 

Giving music lessons "just for pin- 
money " is a very general practice, and 
the music teacher, especially when the 
pupils are small children, in a country 
village, frequently appears in the shape 
of a young lady very much dressed. The 
employment is very remunerative under 
a reasonable amount of patronage ; and 
the hard-working mechanic and his equal- 
ly hard-working wife are particularly 
anxious to have their daughters taught 
to " play the pianner." To see Celia or 
" Hanner Jane " seated, of a morning, at 
the instrument, in " unwomanly rags " 
and unkempt hair, shrieking forth the 
pathetic complaint — 



84 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

"No one to love me, 
None to caress," 

far from producing acquiescence in the 
justice of such a fate, excites a pleasant 
thrill of satisfaction in the parental bo- 
soms that this gifted being is actual 
household property. 

The thoroughly trained and compe- 
tent music -teacher will find more con- 
genial pupils, and receive a liberal price 
for her lessons. A little extra income 
earned in this way often enables the 
teacher to improve herself in the higher 
branches of her art ; and when the pu- 
pils are friends, or children of friends, 
the occupation can be made a very pleas- 
ant one. 

A class in fancy-work would be found 
very taking in small places, where such 
advantages are not so easily obtained as 
in the city ; and the ruling mania, what- 



TEACHIXG IX ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. 85 

ever it might be, would be eagerly 
sought after. The old-fashioned mania 
for wax flowers was revived some years 
ago, and teachers of the art found it 
very profitable; but it is decidedly out 
of favor now, except in remote places. 
One dollar an hour is the usual price for 
such instruction ; or it may be given, 
like embroidery in silk, gold bullion, 
etc., in a course of so many lessons. 
Stitches in knitting, crochet- work, and 
ordinary embroidery do not command 
so high a price. 

Instruction in plain needle-work is 
much needed, and not so easy to obtain 
as instruction in fancy-work. Quite 
lately, in a small country place, a lady 
opened a sewing-school on Saturdays, 
which was well attended by girls from 
twelve to fifteen. Only plain sewing 
and mending were taught — accomplish- 



86 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

merits usually more appreciated by par- 
ents than by pupils ; but the attendance 
of the volatile damsels was secured by 
an interesting story read aloud during 
the lessons, and some little refreshment 
and a game of romps at the end. The 
two hours 7 instruction was well remu- 
nerated ; and there are few mothers, 
able to do so, who would not gladly 
pay for having their girls thoroughly 
grounded in the rudiments of needle- 
work by one who understands the art, 
and who also understands half-grown 
girls. 

A mending-class would be a novelty, 
but, in connection with plain sewing, 
it could scarcely fail of success. There 
are always stockings to darn, and rav- 
ages to repair, in the best-regulated fam- 
ilies; but there is not always some one 
who can do these things properly, and 
sometimes the repairing is worse than 



TEACHING IX ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. 87 

the rent. The woman who can mend 
well has all that is saved in this way 
added to her income; and few more 
profitable and convenient uses can be 
found for needle and thread. 

Such a class could be made very in- 
teresting by having an object to work 
for. Each pupil might bring the dis- 
carded garments of the family to be re- 
paired for the use of the poor, or placed, 
when good enough, in a box for foreign 
or domestic missions ; for, with such an 
incentive, unsuspected talent, in the way 
of making old clothes look almost as 
good as new, would be developed to a 
surprising extent. 

Cooking-schools are not a modern de- 
vice in the way of teaching, but an old 
one revived. It used to be the fashion 
to teach ladies how to cook; but this 
instruction probably took the form of 



88 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

wonderful cakes and confections, rather 
than that of ordinary viands 

"... Not too good 
For human nature's daily food." 

A school similar to those now establish- 
ed in two or three large cities, teaching 
thoroughly the preparation of common 
family meals, would be appreciated in 
most towns and settlements ; and a lady 
known by her neighbors to be an adept 
in making bread, biscuits, and cakes, 
need not often seek for pupils in vain. 
The arts of pickling, preserving, sirup 
and wine making, might be added ; and 
the graduates of such a school could 
give an entertainment provided by their 
own fair hands, each dish being labelled 
with the name of the maker. 

Almost any gift may be turned to ac- 
count in the way of teaching, provided 



TEACHING IX ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. 89 

it is something that one's neighbors care 
to learn ; and sometimes an exchange 
may be made, without the medium of 
currency, that will prove of mutual ad- 
vantage. A person, for instance, well 
supplied with fruit, vegetables, or the 
like, may be glad to part with a portion 
of these commodities in payment for 
instruction ; while the other party is 
equally glad to receive so useful an 
equivalent for the money earned. Both 
are thus accommodated ; but, if a money 
return had been insisted on, no arrange- 
ment could have been effected between 
them. 

Other forms of instruction may be 
suggested by these brief hints, which 
are not intended for those who are able 
to devote the whole of their time to the 
business of teaching. 



90 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 



Chapter VI. 

LITERATURE AND WRITING. 

"Prose and "Worse." — Undeveloped Talent. — Mistaken 
Ideas. — Some Open Doors. — A Mercenary View of 
the Subject. — What to Write About. — Rates of Re- 
muneration. — Literary Giants. — Century Plants. — 
What an Author Needs. — Novel Writing a Trade. 
— Works of Fiction. — Profits of Periodical Litera- 
ture. — Elements of Success. — Value of Advertising. 
— Sensational Writers. — A Lady's Attempt with a 
Dime Novel. — Sunday-school Books. — A List of 
Periodicals. — Writing by Proxy. — Advertisements. 
— Letter- writing. — Legal Copying. — Book-keeping. 

Within the last few years, when so 
many non -toilers have been compelled 
to consider more or less the subject of 
money - making, the discovery has been 
very generally made that literary work 
is the most agreeable and remunerative 
of the various occupations suitable for 
a lady. 



LITERATURE AND WRITING. 91 

This general conviction has inundat- 
ed the market with attempts in "prose 
and worse ;" while bitter disappointment 
awaited the owners of bulky manu- 
scripts who imagined writing to be "the 
easiest thing in the world to do," 

A poet says that 

" Men have been cradled into poetry by wrong," 

and it is well known that circumstances 
often bring to light unsuspected talent 
— a poem, or a novel, of undisputed mer- 
it, having sometimes been written to 
meet a financial crisis; but such cases 
are rare, and triumphs of this kind are 
almost invariably preceded by under- 
ground work of some sort. 

That a person of good average educa- 
tion, who needs money badly, can, with 
a little practice, make literature a means 
of support, is a very pleasing fallacy, but 
one that has very little foundation in fact. 



92 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

The ability merely to write acceptably 
and profitably is very delightful, but it 
does not come all at once ; and to many, 
who are ambitious of it, it never comes 
at all. Culture and the advantages of 
society are valuable aids in the develop- 
ment of literary talent, but they cannot 
bestow it where it does not exist, and 
much, on the other hand, may be done 
without them. 

A pretty poem, a graceful story, or a 
bright little volume, may be within the 
reach of those by whom the higher tri- 
umphs of literature are never attained; 
and all these things have usually a de- 
cided market value. There are so many 
different kinds of writing — so mauy 
channels opened in magazine and news- 
paper literature, and especially in books 
and stories for children — that there is a 
niche for almost everything that is real- 
ly good. So little outlay, too, is required 



LITERATURE AND WRITING. 93 

— pen, ink, and paper, and a few postage- 
stamps constituting the capital — that the 
least chance of success seems to justify 
the beginner in making the attempt. 

In these pages writing is viewed, like 
every other employment, solely in regard 
to its money returns : of the higher 
aims of genius, and a conscientious de- 
sire to benefit mankind, it is out of place 
to speak here. For those who need such 
information, the following paragraphs, 
from a work on women's employments, 
published some time ago, may be found 
useful : 

"Subjects," says the writer, "are as 
numerous as the objects around us, and 
suited to all moods and diversities of 
mind. To the contributor I would say : 
Your writing will be likely to find read- 
ers, whether it be grave or gay, sad or 
sprightly, witty or jovial; whether one 
making a draught on the imagination or 



94 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

the judgment; whether one displaying 
your own attainments, or calling to aid 
the opinions and requirements of oth- 
ers ; in short, one of thought, fancy, or 
facts. 

"Your friends may like your ideas 
draped in poetry, or the more substan- 
tial dress of prose. One is like gold, the 
other like iron. One serves for ornament, 
the other for use. The true poet is a 
gifted person — a heaven-born talent does 
he or she possess. If you have good de- 
scriptive talents, you can write stories — 
laying the scenes in far-away countries 
that are not much known, and yet elicit- 
ing some interest. And as to the sub- 
jects of a moral cast, their name is le- 
gion. Magazine-writing furnishes a pal- 
atable way of drawing attention to in- 
dividual follies, or furnishing a satire on 
the inconsistencies and exactions of soci- 
ety in general. If you attempt to write 



LITERATURE AND WRITING. 95 

natural stories, let your scenes and events 
be such as occur in every -day life." 

As to the prices paid for acceptable 
articles, they vary according to the style 
of the article and the character of the 
periodical, as well as the reputation of 
the writer. Harpers' periodicals pay 
about ten dollars for a thousand words ; 
the Atlantic Monthly about the same 
price per page; and others in proportion 
to their circulation and cost. Some of 
the little Sunday-school papers, which 
require tiny articles, make very tiny re- 
turns. A lady lately received from one 
of them a very polite note containing 
a dollar bill, and stating that it was 
" in payment for her ' Camelopard ' " — 
a fragment of natural history which, 
fortunately for her, she had not valued 
very highly. 

The paper in question is an honest, 
substantial little sheet, that always pays 



96 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

for what it uses at a settled rate per 
column ; but there are periodicals whose 
proprietors will publish articles, even by- 
well-known writers, and then calmly say 
that "it is not their custom to pay for 
contributions unless arrangements to that 
effect are made beforehand !" It is safer, 
therefore, except in writing for the pe- 
riodicals mentioned, and those of similar 
standing, to make the arrangements be- 
forehand. 

In an article written some time ago it 
is said : " I have now before me a state- 
ment from a single publisher, in which 
he says that to Messrs. Willis, Longfel- 
low, Bryant, and Allston his price was 
uniformly $50 for a poetical article, long 
or short ; and his readers know that they 
were generally very short — in one case, 
only fourteen lines. To numerous others 
it was from $25 to $40. In one case he 
has paid $25 a page for prose. To Mr. 



LITERATURE AND WRITING. 97 

Cooper he paid $1800 for a novel, and 
$1000 for a series of naval biographies, 
the author retaining the copyright for 
separate publication ; and in such cases, 
if the work be good, its appearance in 
the magazine acts as the best of adver- 
tisements. To Mr. James he paid $1200 
for a novel, leaving him also the copy- 
right. For a single number of his jour- 
nal he has paid to authors $1500. 

These names, most of which belong 
to the literature of a past generation, 
show that the article is by no means a 
modern one; and at the present day 
there are women - writers who receive 
even greater sums than these. Mrs. 
Stowe, Mrs. Hodgson -Burnett, and Miss 
Phelps are probably the best paid of our 
female authors; but these ladies have 
exceptional talent, and belong rather to 
the century-plant order. 

Their humble sisters, however, need 
1 



98 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

not despair of a moderate degree of suc- 
cess; and those who fancy that they 
possess any powers of imagination and 
expression have at least the right to try 
their wings. "The indispensable quali- 
fications to make a writer are — a tal- 
ent for literary composition, an accurate 
knowledge of language, and an acquaint- 
ance with the subject to be treated." 

Mr. Anthony Trollope declared that 
novel-writing could be made as much a 
matter of apprenticeship as any other 
trade; and he carried out his views by 
bringing up his son to his own calling. 
The volumes thus produced by machin- 
ery are not remarkable for freshness; 
but they show what may be done by 
regularly learning the trade. 

In works of fiction there is always a 
wide field for women. "This class of 
books requires less time, less study, and 
less money, and rewards the authors pe- 



LITERATURE AND WRITING. 99 

cuniarily better, than any other kind of 
work, considering, of course, the compar- 
atively small amount of application re- 
quired." This is the universal testimo- 
ny; and a poor story is often more sal- 
able than an admirably written, instruc- 
tive article devoid of entertainment. 

People write from many different mo- 
tives, such as love of fame, wealth, influ- 
ence, and a desire to do good ; if from 
the second motive, there are various 
things to be considered. Among these 
is the testimony of a very successful 
writer that she made a mistake in de- 
voting most of her time to periodical 
literature, as books are infinitely more 
profitable ; and Rose Terry Cooke, one 
of our most charming magazinists, whose 
stories are probably quarrelled for by 
the editors, instead of ever being return- 
ed to her, distinctly states that she has 
never yet made by her pen one thousand 



100 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

dollars a year. Had she produced a 
book, her account would probably have 
been very different. 

The most immediately remunerative 
kind of book is a bright, taking story 
that can be read of a summer's day — a 
book with a title that seizes the fancy 
at once, and in which commonplace oc- 
currences are treated in an uncommon 
way. Originality of expression is a pow- 
erful ingredient to success ; and delicate 
touches of this kind are most effective 
in completing an attractive whole. Who 
does not remember that, among the many 
charms of " Rutledge," the heroine had 
no name ? 

Literary merit, although indispensable 
to an enduring fame, is by no means nec- 
essary to moneyed success ; and a recent 
review of a popular volume gives a fair 
idea of what is needed : 

"The reason of the great success of 



LITERATURE AND WRITING. 101 

lies almost wholly outside its 

covers ; it . is not due to anything for 
which the author is to be held responsi- 
ble at all, excepting the title. Given at 
any time a catching title, enough merit 
to rescue the volume from dulness, and 
an abundance of ingenious advertising, 
and what trifle of the kind could not 
be forced into large circulation ? There 
must, however, be comparatively a tak- 
ing phrase in the title, as well as exten- 
' sive placarding, to secure the result ; di- 
vorce one from the other, and a different 
story would be the consequence." 

Sensational periodicals and papers, 
that deal in blood -and -thunder litera- 
ture, pay poorly for the work done, but 
require large supplies of it. Occasion- 
ally, some modern Scherezade, who can 
spin a story out endlessly, and season 
it highly with blood-curdling advent- 
ures, receives a handsome salarv for her 



102 MOXEY-MAKIXG FOR LADIES. 

weekly contributions. One of this class 
of writers had the first story sent to a 
certain paper returned to her, " to be re- 
written grammatically and spelled cor- 
rectly " — 'English and orthography be- 
ing equally abominable ; but madam re- 
sponded that "she couldn't write at all, 
if she had to bother about the grammar 
and spelling." The quick eye of the 
reader had detected in the untidy sheets 
a decided genius for hair - breadth es- 
capes, and midnight murders, and mys- 
terious poisonings; and as these uncan- 
ny subjects formed the staple of his pro- 
gramme, he hired a person to decipher 
the manuscripts and reduce them to a 
civilized condition, while the gifted au- 
thoress was placed on the regular staff at 
an absurdly high rate of remuneration. 

It is scarcely possible for an educated 
and refined lady to do this kind of writ- 
ing successfully. One who attempted it 



LITERATURE AXD WKITING. 103 

some years ago often refers to it as an 
amusing experience. She had been ad- 
vised to write a dime novel, which was 
represented as a very easy task, and sure 
to bring in a certain moderate sum — the 
great point being to make it as sensa- 
tional as possible. For a first attempt 
in this style, our authoress felt that she 
had acquitted herself very creditably in 
making her hero, in the first chapter, go 
crazy, and all but commit suicide, kill 
his child, and turn his wife out-of-doors ; 
but the manuscript was returned to her, 
with a polite note, stating that it was of 
too domestic a character to answer their 
purpose! 

Having done her very worst, the lady 
retired from the field discomfited. 

Sunday-school books of the right kind 
are very much needed — not religious 
novels, but books suitable for intelligent 
children from ten to fifteen years of age. 



104 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

It is probably owing to the prevalent 
idea that a Sunday-school book is very 
easy to write, that the market is flooded 
with such a quantity of trash; but a 
book of this kind, that shall accomplish 
its high mission, cannot be written by 
every one. 

There is no dearth of subjects; there 
are such beautiful things in Nature to 
those who have learned to look up to 
Nature's God, such a wealth of clouds 
and sunsets and early dawns, with all 
the witching changes of the seasons ; 
and, far more beautiful even than these, 
the lovely, heroic deeds of daily life 
that sometimes gild the humblest homes, 
and wind like a thread of gold through 
the most prosaic and unpromising sur- 
roundings. Such materials are always 
at hand for the true artist. 

Commonplace, goody -goody books — 
narratives that are largely composed of 



LITERATURE AXD WRITING. 1Q5 

conversations in which the characters 
"grind" in a style that would not be 
tolerated in real life — have had their 
day. The author of a volume of this 
description rather boasted that, when 
she began to write, she had not the 
slightest idea what she was going to 
say. "That is just what I should have 
supposed from reading it," replied her 
plain-spoken auditor. 

The power that is needed in Sunday- 
school literature is the ability to take 
the common, every -day events of ordi- 
nary life and make of them sermons that 
shall elevate and encourage all who read 
them : 

li Footprints that perchance another, 
Sailing o'er life's rugged main, 
Some forlorn and ship wrecked brother, 
Seeing, shall take heart again." 

A list of the various periodicals which 
pay for contributions, some liberally, and 



106 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

others very moderately, may be of use 
to those who are just beginning to write 
for publication. Those marked with a 
star are children's periodicals : 

Harper's Magazine New York. 

Weekly 

" Bazar 

" Young People* 

Scribner's Monthly 

St Nicholas* 

Leslie's Lady's Journal 

" Sunday Magazine 

" Chimney Corner 

Demorest's Monthly 

Magazine of American History .... 

The Churchman 

The Independent 

The Christian Weekly 

The Christian Union 

The Home Journal 

The Daily Graphic 

Lippiucott's Magazine Philadelphia. 

Arthur's Home Magazine . . . 

Godey's Lady's Book 

Peterson's Magazine 

The Sunday-school Times 

The Youth's World* 



LITERATURE AXD WRITING. 107 

The Sabbath -school Visitor* .... Philadelphia. 

The Atlantic Monthly Boston. 

The Youth's Companion* " 

Ballou's Monthly " 

The Waverley Magazine " 

Wide Awake* " 

The Congregationalist " 

The Wellspring* " 

The Dayspring* " 

There are probably others scattered 
over the country; but those enumerated 
w T ill be more than sufficient for the most 
industrious writer. 

Sometimes persons with a ready pen, 
but not much literary genius, make a 
good income by doing other people's 
writing ; and lectures that are delivered 
with considerable effect are not always 
the w r ork of the speaker. A case w r as 
lately mentioned of a young man who 
earned a comfortable living by writing 
lectures, pamphlets for patent medicines, 
and advertisements. 



108 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

An enterprising woman, too, was cited 
who first secured an entire column in a 
daily paper — which she obtained at a 
greatly reduced rate from that charged 
for single advertisements; then she vis- 
ited different business people — or sent 
persons whom she employed for that 
purpose — representing to them the great 
advantages of advertising in that partic- 
ular column ; and, finally, she wrote out 
the advertisements in an attractive style 
and had them inserted, very much to 
her own advantage. 

Writing letters for those who are not 
gifted in expressing themselves has oc- 
casionally been found profitable; and 
persons with a very large correspond- 
ence are often glad to avail themselves 
of such help. The duties of an amanu- 
ensis are comparatively light, and the re- 
muneration fair. 

But copying for lawyers, for which 



LITERATURE AXD WRITING. 109 

there are so many advertisements in the 
daily papers, is by no means a desirable 
employment. It is represented as very 
dirty, tiresome work, and poorly paid. 
Three cents for every hundred words is 
an exceptional rate, as it is often er less; 
a very clear, round, legible handwriting 
is required, and any mistake must be 
rectified by doing the work over. On 
the whole, there are many employments 
more attractive than this. 

Directing envelopes is very much of 
the same nature; and a small sum is 
paid for them by the thousand. Some- 
times these employments can be carried 
on in one's own house; but oftener they 
are regular office- work, and quite out of 
the question for a lady. 



110 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 



Chapter VII. 

ART INDUSTRIES. 

Schools of Design. — Fundamental Instruction.— Im- 
possible Achievements. — Practical Skill in Design- 
ing. — Mechanical Drawing.— Women as Architects. 
—Engraving on Gold and Silver.— The New York 
Society of Decorative Art.— Objects of the Society. 
—A Depot for First-class Work.— Conditions for 
Exhibitors.— China Painting.— The Decoration of 
Fans.— Hand-screens, Plaques, etc.— Door-panels. — 
Illustrations for Books.— A Superfluity of Genius. 

The Schools of Design which have been 
opened in most of the large cities afford 
ladies many advantages for learning how 
to make money pleasantly. The course 
is rather tiresome, perhaps, for a grown 
person, and especially for one feeling the 
need of speedy returns for any invest- 
ment, even of time — four years being the 
time required for graduation; but, if a 



ART INDUSTRIES. HI 

pupil desires to study some particular 
branch for a limited period, arrange- 
ments can generally be made to do so. 

The peculiar advantages offered by 
the School of Design are the very thor- 
ough nature of the instruction, the abun- 
dance and variety of models to work 
from, and the very moderate charges to 
those who intend making it in any way 
a means of support. The industrial 
branches of the fine arts receive especial 
attention; and the opportunities for ac- 
quiring a practical knowledge of design- 
ing, lithography, wood-engraving, etc., in 
addition to all kinds of drawing and 
painting, are quite unrivalled. 

It has been said that the greater part 
of the higher order of designs are prac- 
tically unavailable for want of knowl- 
edge on the part of the designer of the 
conditions of the particular manufacture 
in question. The economic possibility 



112 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

and aptitude are not studied ; and hence, 
the manufacturers say, are enormous 
wastes of thought, skill, and industry. 
This want supplied, a field of industry 
practically boundless would be opened 
to female artists, as well as artisans; 
and it would be an enlightened policy 
to look to this, while the whole world 
seems to be opening its ports to our 
productions. 

These considerations make the popu- 
lar stories of heroines who achieve, with- 
out any preliminary training, the highest 
success in their first attempts at design- 
ing utter absurdities — the most unpre- 
tentious of wall-paper patterns requiring 
some idea of means to an end to make 
it available. Such employments are de- 
lightful enough in themselves to repay 
a reasonable amount of application to 
the study of rudiments; and a well- 
grounded designer, with an inventive 



ART INDUSTRIES. H3 

fancy, will find abundant and well -re- 
munerated work. 

Practical skill in drawing is absolute- 
ly essential to a good designer ; and, with 
this foundation, the study becomes an 
easy one. Wall-papers and calicoes con- 
sume endless designs ; and, in addition, 
there are carpets, silks, ribbons, furniture, 
lace, silver, jewellery, etc. 

Many ladies make quite a handsome 
income by drawing for the Patent Office, 
patent agents, etc., the drawings being 
chiefly linear, mechanical ones, and the 
remuneration varying according to abil- 
ity. The fact, however, is emphasized 
that "it requires mechanical knowledge, 
which is not very often possessed by 
women, but is a branch of study that 
would be found both pleasant and prof- 
itable, especially if they were prepared 
for it by an elementary course in the 
public schools. It is not a branch that 



114 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

admits of much display, and is, therefore, 
almost entirely neglected, or taught in 
such a way as to be utterly futile for 
all practical purposes." 

Architectural drawing is also a use- 
ful, pleasant, and very profitable acquire- 
ment ; and there is no reason why wom- 
en should not be eminently successful as 
architects. Houses planned by ladies 
could scarcely fail to be more satisfac- 
tory in detail, and very much more con- 
venient ; and some especially comfortable 
and attractive houses have been so plan- 
ned. It is quite an unusual thing to see 
a lady pursuing the study or practice of 
architecture ; and yet " the wife of Er- 
win von Steinbach materially assisted her 
husband in the erection of the famous 
Strasbourg Cathedral; and within its 
walls a sculptured stone represents the 
husband and wife as consulting together 
on the plan." 



ART INDUSTRIES. H5 

Almost every woman sees something 
to change in the house she inhabits, and 
knows just how she would have ordered 
the arrangement of closets, staircases, 
etc., to economize room to the best ad- 
vantage ; but, without some knowledge 
of the rudiments of architecture, it is not 
easy to draw a plan that can be practi- 
cally carried out. A proper course of 
instruction, combined with the natural 
inclination of women for comforts and 
conveniences in the place where so much 
of their lives is spent, would result in a 
new and improved order of house archi- 
tecture, as well as remunerative and 
lady-like employment to many who are 
now wondering what they can do. 

Engraving of various kinds is a popu- 
lar branch of study at the School of De- 
sign — a knowledge of this art insuring 
constant and remunerative employment 



116 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

The work of ladies in chasing on gold 
and silver is frequently in demand; and 
the qualifications needed are good draw- 
ing and penmanship. 

While the instructions received in the 
School of Design are more particularly 
directed to the industrial branches of the 
fine arts, the Societies of Decorative Art 
furnish a somewhat higher and more 
aesthetic culture. China - painting, tile- 
painting, panel-painting, art needle-work, 
and everything of an ornamental nature 
that conforms to the principles of true 
art, receive careful attention ; and a mar- 
ket is provided for all work that may 
be found satisfactory. 

The instruction in these institutions is 
not free, except for a limited number of 
pupils who may have sufficiently influ- 
ential friends to procure scholarships for 
them; but the salesrooms offer unusual 



ART INDUSTRIES. H7 

advantages in disposing of all work that 
is approved by the Committees. 

The New York Society of Decorative 
Art states the objects of its institution 
to be: 

" 1st. To establish a place for the ex- 
hibition and sale of decorative work, and 
to encourage the production of such work 
among women. 

" 2d. To distribute information with 
regard to the various art industries 
which have been found profitable in 
other countries, and to increase the sup- 
ply of hand-wrought decoration. 

" 3d. To induce art- workers to master 
thoroughly the details of some one 
method of decoration, not only that they 
may make for themselves a reputation 
of commercial value, but that they may 
also assist in establishing a high stand- 
ard of excellence. 

" 4th. To assist those who have work- 



118 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

ed unsuccessfully in choosing some prac- 
tical and popular direction for their labor. 

" 5th. To form classes in various kinds 
of decorative work. 

" 6th. To establish a library of books 
and manuals of design. 

" 7th. To form connections with man- 
ufacturers and importers, and to obtain 
orders from private individuals, and from 
dealers in decorated pottery, china, tiles, 
cabinet - work, carvings, draperies, em- 
broideries, and articles of household art. 

" 8th. To develop the beautiful art of 
needle- work, and assist in adapting it to 
the requirements of house-furnishing and 
decoration. 

" 9th. To furnish a market, outside of 
a limited circle of friends, for the large 
amount of artistic work done by those 
who do not make it a profession, but 
who have attained a professional skill 
in execution." 



ART INDUSTRIES. H9 

The last clause is of especial interest 
to those for whom these pages are in- 
tended; and a number of ladies gifted 
with artistic taste and skilful fingers 
find the society rooms a most satisfac- 
tory depot for their productions. A 
visit to these rooms is an introduction 
to the principles of ornamental art ; and 
only objects of dainty design and finish- 
ed execution are admitted to the artis- 
tically arranged shelves and tables. 

Here may be seen exquisitely-painted 
cups and saucers, tiles, and panels, won- 
derful needle- work on curtains, portieres^ 
table-covers, etc. — even tidies and d'oy- 
leys that look like embroidered poems, 
But "frames decorated in color — except 
as mirror frames — and painted passe- 
partouts, wax flowers and fruit, feather 
flowers, leather-work, skeletonized leaves, 
painted candles, knitting, crochet, Ber- 
lin-wool work, underclothing, or em 



120 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

broidered portions of it, and plain sew- 
ing, are excluded as inadmissible under 
the term of ' art ;' also imitations of 
Limoges and other pottery, decorated 
with oil-color and varnish. An article 
which is not honestly what it purports 
to be cannot be considered a work of 
art." 

Here, then, is an opening for the fa- 
vored few whose work will pass the 
jealously -guarded portals; but, once 
within, appreciation and liberal remu- 
neration are almost sure to follow. Ex- 
hibitors are not obliged to be pupils, 
nor to have an acquaintance with any 
member of the society to obtain the 
privilege of admission ; but, unless intro- 
duced by a subscriber, a yearly entrance- 
fee of five dollars is demanded. Each 
one will receive, upon application, a 
number which will represent her work 
upon the books of the society, and which 



ART INDUSTRIES. 121 

must be added to name and address in 
" business letters." 

Nor is it necessary to live in the city 
in order to enter work at the Society of 
Decorative Art, the only stipulation in 
regard to distance being that " all work 
must be delivered to the society free of 
expense." Therefore, ladies living in the 
country, who are able to meet the re- 
quirements, have the same privileges in 
this respect as their city sisters. 

China-painting produces, perhaps, the 
most popular and profitable results of 
any of the art studies; and almost any 
one, with an eye for color and some 
knowledge of drawing, can easily ac- 
quire it. A lady who had successfully 
practised ordinary drawing and paint- 
ing, although quite self-taught, managed, 
in the course of a single day spent at 
the School of Design, to become suffi- 
ciently acquainted with the principles 



122 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

of painting on china to take up this de- 
lightful occupation on her return to her 
distant village home, to the satisfaction 
at least of herself and her friends. 

The decoration of fans, now so much 
in vogue, is almost a branch by itself; 
but it is expressly stated by the Society 
of Decorative Art that articles of this 
nature, " to be received, must in all cases 
show special excellence in the combina- 
tion of harmonious coloring and form, 
and the appropriateness of the decora- 
tion." Birds, butterflies, all winged creat- 
ures, are supposed to be particularly 
suited to objects that have such inti- 
mate relations with air — flowers have 
run riot over them for centuries — and 
figures have also been introduced with 
less good taste, perhaps, than any other 
device. 

Some fans were beautifully ornament- 
ed lately with pen- etchings, resembling 



ART INDUSTRIES. 123 

the finest engraving, by a lad} 7 whose 
tasteful fingers never seemed to make a 
mistake in this most delicate of under- 
takings. These dainty articles were in 
great request for Christmas presents 
among those who could afford to pay 
for them; and, in one instance, the fan, 
a very beautiful one of pale pink silk, 
with pearl handles, was furnished, and 
twenty dollars paid for the work alone. 
The artist confessed that she began her 
task with trembling fingers, fearful of 
spoiling the valuable article committed to 
her care ; but courage came as the work 
progressed, and her labor was crowned 
with even more than its usual success. 

Hand- screens, so indispensable since 
open fires and chimney-pieces have been 
made much of, also offer a wide field for 
decoration to those who can handle the 
artist's brush; and whether painted in 
rich colors, or delicately traced in sepia 



124 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

and India-ink, they are sure to be pretty 
and ornamental. Many of the Chinese 
and Japanese articles of this sort suggest 
ideas to be partly adopted and improved 
upon. 

Plaques, either of china or smooth 
wood, are endless in design, and, when 
well -painted and handsomely mounted, 
make very satisfactory mural ornaments. 
Very beautiful designs for plaques are 
frequently the work of lady-artists, and 
prizes are sometimes offered for those 
of superior merit. 

There are many remunerative pieces 
of work for those who can produce pleas- 
ing effects with color, although unable 
to attempt the higher walks of art — 
dinner-cards, neckties, and even buttons 
coining in for a share of ornamentation. 
A lady lately painted a set of the latter 
for a black silk dress with minute for- 
get-me-nots ; and the effect, enhanced by 



ART INDUSTRIES. 125 

larger sprays of the same flower at each 
corner of the vest, was extremely pretty. 

Some inventive genius originated the 
idea of medallion sets painted on silk of 
various colors over large button-moulds : 
necklace, ear-rings, brooch, bracelets, in 
one pattern of flowers ; and, before they 
were too extensively imitated, they were 
thought very pretty and tasteful. They 
were quite profitable, too, to the artist, 
as they were quickly done; but they 
have had their day, and some other small 
invention, equally pretty, would receive 
as warm a welcome. 

The painting of panels, for doors and 
rooms, has become an important indus- 
try, and brightness and beauty are fast 
taking the place of wooden monotony. 
Ladies who are gifted in executing pret- 
ty and unique designs of their own in- 
vention may almost be said to hold a 
fortune on the tips of their brushes. 



126 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

One lady, at least, may be cited who, in 
this department of decorative art, has 
always as many engagements as she is 
willing to take, and at her own price. 

Illustrations for books, if bright and 
original, are always in demand ; and in 
writing for children, especially, pictures 
go a great way. It sometimes happens 
that two friends can use together pen and 
pencil — one writing, and the other illus- 
trating; and, by combining these talents 
on the same piece of work, better results 
are accomplished than by working sep- 
arately. A little sketch, or poem, sent 
to a periodical for children, if accom- 
panied by an apt illustration, has nine 
chances of acceptance where an equally 
good article, without the picture, would 
have but one. 

Occasionally, a delightful correspond- 
ent, whose letters are intended only for 
the eyes of personal friends, will illus- 



ART INDUSTRIES. 127 

trate the scenes or people she describes, 
with a few characteristic strokes, in such 
a life-like way that the scene or person 
is there before the reader; and these 
careless sketches, if published, would of- 
ten put to shame the work of popular 
comic artists. 

This inimitable gift, with the usual 
contrariety of fortune, is usually bestowed 
upon those who do not employ it, except 
for the amusement of themselves and 
their friends ; but any one with a ready 
pencil for illustration has a direct way 
to money-making close at hand. 



128 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 



Chapter VIII. 

HOUSE-DECORATION. 

Two English Ladies. — The Decorator of the Past. — 
A New Field for Women of Taste and Judgment. — 
The Woman's Province. — How to Begin. — Consci- 
entious Work. — A "House Beautiful." — Farther 
Suggestions. — A Pair of Vases. 

The domain of art is wide, and offers 
a variety of employment to those who 
understand it, not only in creating, but 
in selecting and disposing of the crea- 
tions of others. 

The Misses Garrett, of London, have 
made a large and profitable business of 
house-decoration in painting, wood- work, 
and furniture — first fitting themselves 
for the undertaking by a thorough edu- 
cation in art, and exhibiting in their own 
house, with its admirably chosen belong- 



HOUSE-DECORATIOX. 129 

ings, sufficient proof of their qualifica- 
tions. The arrangements of this house 
are described by visitors to be not only 
uncommonly beautiful, but beautifully 
uncommon. Of these belongings the 
owners can discourse delightfully for 
hours together; and they have publish- 
ed a small book on the subject of house- 
decoration. 

Formerly, people who had money to 
spend on house-furnishing were satisfied 
to give a fashionable upholsterer carte 
blanche for the furnishing of the new 
house, with the laudable object of mak- 
ing it look as much as possible like 
other people's. But all that has been 
changed, and the furnishing of the pres- 
ent day aims at individuality. Art, of 
course, above and beyond everything, 
say the reformers; but, after this, let 
us be original. To have something 
that one's neighbors have not, and are 
9 



130 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

not likely to have, is a positive happi- 
ness. 

"Until lately," writes Miss Garrett, 
" a house - decorator (to all except the 
extremely wealthy) has meant simply a 
man who hangs paper and knows me- 
chanically how to paint wood. In his 
proper place he would fulfil the part 
which a dispenser does to a doctor — he 
should be able faithfully to follow direc- 
tions, and honestly to carry out instruc- 
tions ; and, as a rule, this role he is able 
to fulfil. But a decorator should mean 
some one who can do more than this; 
he should be able to design and arrange 
all the internal fittings of a house — the 
chimney-pieces, grates, and door-heads, as 
well as the wall-hangings, curtains, car- 
pets, and furniture. All these it has 
hitherto been customary to intrust to 
different people, none of whom has had 
any part in the deliberations of the 



HOUSE-DECORATION. 131 

other. The consequence of such a dis- 
jointed arrangement has been that, in 
modern houses, one seldom finds a room 
which makes an harmonious whole." 

These ladies are themselves able to 
meet all these requirements; but they 
are exceptional cases. There is no rea- 
son, however, why other ladies with an 
equal amount of taste, even though lack- 
in o; their educational advantages, should 
not be able, in some measure, to fill the 
place of the Misses Garrett in this coun- 
try. Wealthy people in our land of 
changes are constantly furnishing and 
refurnishing their houses; and many of 
them, having more money than taste, 
would gladly pay for the guidance of 
a cultivated eye and a ready perception 
of harmony and fitness. 

House decorative art is one for which 
ladies are peculiarly fitted, but with 
which they have as yet had little to do. 



132 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

" When a house, the very centre of a 
woman's kingdom, and the place where 
she spends most of her time, is to be fur- 
nished and decorated, men are called in 
to decide what hues shall prevail, what 
hangings and carpets, and other belong- 
ings, shall meet my lady's eyes day 
after day — often what pictures shall hang 
upon her walls, what books shall come, 
like silent friends, to take up their abode 
with her." This is not a man's business 
at all, but a woman's ; and, if well-con- 
ducted as a business, it might be made 
very remunerative. 

A lady employed as a house-decorator 
could present a plan or general outline 
of what she proposed to do — after care- 
fully studying the capabilities of the 
rooms — with an estimate of cost, and 
submit it to the householder. The re- 
sult would probably prove satisfac- 
tory to both parties; and one house 



HOUSE-DECORATIOX. 133 

tastefully furnished might be an excel- 
lent advertisement for future engage- 
ments. 

The decorator should resemble the 
worthy Mrs. Gilpin in having " a frugal 
mind," wherever this virtue is desirable, 
and a nice calculation of expenditure; 
so that people of moderate means would 
find it more economical to have the ben 
efit of her taste and judgment in furnish 
ing than to take the responsibility them, 
selves. Since the revival of the beauti- 
ful in ordinary things it is just as impor 
tant to furnish the simple cottage har- 
moniously as the more pretentious man 
sion ; and, as cottages are more numerous 
than palaces, the decorator would often- 
er be called upon to spend $500 than 
$5000 — provided her charges were rea- 
sonable, and a gift for making one dollar 
do the work of two apparent to the dull- 
est comprehension. 



134 MOXEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

The two accomplished English ladies 
who have introduced such a reform in 
house-decoration preside over a charm- 
ing establishment, where beautiful ob- 
jects, collected with unfailing taste and 
judgment, may not only be admired but 
purchased; and any lady engaging in 
the same occupation would find a house 
capable of unique adornment a great ad- 
vantage in this way. It could be quietly 
given out, among a circle of friends, that 

Mrs. 's rooms were charming — quite 

out of the common order — full of pretty 
effects produced at a moderate outlay; 
and one would bring another to look 
and admire — to buy a picture, perhaps, 
or the duplicate of a graceful hanging 
— and custom would thus flow in by 
degrees, until success was no longer 
doubtful. 

A discreet amount of bric-a-brac could 
be taken on commission, and arranged 



HOUSE-DECOR ATI0X. 135 

with taste among the other furnishings ; 
it would show to better advantage, and 
be more salable, than in the shop of the 
dealer. Lady-artists, too, amateurs " who 
paint only for amusement," w r ould glad- 
ly contribute some of their best efforts 

to the adornment of Mrs. 's parlors, 

for she might, in time, be able to find 
purchasers for them. 

The business is one that may be made 
quite extensive; for tradesmen and deal- 
ers of all kinds, desiring to bring their 
goods into notice, would probably fur- 
nish samples of them to be used and 

displayed by Mrs. . In this way 

the house could be furnished with little 
or no expense to the occupant. With 
responsible references as security, it 
would not be difficult to make such ar- 
rangements; and private parties, who 
wished to dispose of old and handsome 
articles, would greatly prefer an oppor- 



136 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

tunity of this kind to the medium of the 
auctioneer or second-hand dealer. 

A lady, engaged in quite a different 
occupation, once received a letter from a 
member of an old Southern family ask- 
ing if she could dispose, on commission, 
of a pair of valuable china vases — an 
heir-loom from a great-great-grandmoth- 
er. The vases were valued at two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars, and from the de- 
scription must have been well worth it; 
but the person to whom the letter was 
written was obliged to decline the re- 
sponsibility. The incident, however, 
made quite an impression, and the idea 
was evolved by degrees that, w T ith the 
vases as a foundation, a very pleasant 
occupation could be organized, and one 
that would well repay all who were en- 
gaged in it. 



SHOPPING OX COMMISSION. 137 



Chapter IX. 

SHOPPING OX COMMISSION.— AGENCIES. 

Attractions of Shopping on Commission. — Profits Re- 
ceived. — Reasons for Decline. — Comparative Ad- 
vantages of New York and other Places. — Neces- 
sary Qualifications. — Suggestions for a Circular. — 
Advertisements. — Shopping for Friends. — Book 
Agents. — A City Lady's Enterprise. — Characteris- 
tics of Agents. ^-Encouragement for Ladies. — Miss 

G 's Experience. — The Catastrophe. — A Decided 

Contrast. — Munificent Emoluments. — Other Sub- 
scription - works. — An Agent by Proxy. — Small 
Wares. — Advantages of Knowing how to Work. 

Shopping on commission is, for those 
who succeed in it, an extremely profita- 
ble employment; while there is a cer- 
tain degree of pleasant excitement in re- 
ceiving letters and selecting pretty arti- 
cles. An indefinable charm seems to 
lurk in the spending of money, even if 
it is other people's ; and the shopper by 



138 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

proxy enjoys this sensation to the fullest 
extent. 

Sometimes city residents, as well as 
those who live in the country, are glad 
to have their shopping done for them, 
as it spares them much labor and per- 
plexity ; and those who are conscious of 
their own deficiencies in taste and judg- 
ment are especially glad to avail them- 
selves of this relief. The commission 
charged to purchasers is five per cent.; 
and as merchants allow a discount of 
from six to ten per cent, to shoppers on 
commission, this makes a very handsome 
return to those who have a reasonable 
amount of orders. 

A lady, who managed this depart- 
ment in connection with her other du- 
ties on a fashion periodical, received one 
hundred dollars a month from this source 
alone; but she complains that, within 
the last two or three years, the business 



SHOPPING OX COMMISSION. 139 

has fallen off, so that only small and oc- 
casional orders are the rule now. She 
attributes this partly to the fact that all 
the dry-goods houses will now send sam- 
ples to the remotest ends of the earth ; 
w T hile ready-made suits are so easy of 
attainment, that the resident of Kam- 
chatka, or the Philippine Islands, has 
only to "send waist and bust measure, 
length of skirt," etc., to be fashionably 
arrayed in as short a time as the ma- 
chinery of the sewing-machine and ocean 
steamer can possibly accomplish it. 

So many persons, too, have lately en- 
tered into the business of shopping on 
commission, that scarcely a periodical 
of any standing is to be found without 
one or two advertisements of this nature. 
New York is the most desirable centre 
for shopping, and the advertisements are 
almost invariably dated from thence; 
but, perhaps for this very reason, some 



140 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

other place, where articles of a pecul- 
iar or unique description are to be had, 
would be likely to attract customers. 
The experiment could, at least, be tried 
without involving much expense; but 
all preliminaries must be carefully ar- 
ranged. 

The first of these, perhaps, is to be 
sure of one's own powers — what amount 
of walking, or other fatigue, can be in- 
curred without injury, and also the se- 
lection of a substitute in case of emer- 
gency. For orders of this kind frequent- 
ly arrive at very mal-a-propos times, when 
the principal is either ill, or so engaged 
with other orders that it is impossible to 
attend to them at once. And the at once 
principle is of the greatest importance 
in this particular occupation. 

The wording of an attractive circular, 
that shall yet be so thoroughly truthful 
that no exception can possibly be taken 



SHOPPING OX COMMISSION. 141 

to a single item, after the arrival of exe- 
cuted commissions, is a point of no small 
weight. It is desirable to mention ev- 
erything that one purposes to do, and 
yet to make the circular rather compress- 
ed than expansive; while a judicious 
choice of words and phrases will have 
much to do with securing customers of 
the best class. Half a dozen influential 
names as references are quite indispensa- 
ble, as " orders are in all cases to be ac- 
companied by the amount required." 

An advertisement which has to be 
paid for word by word is not in danger 
of being too lengthy ; the great difficulty 
is to say what seems necessary in so very 
confined a space. The charges for ad- 
vertising are most unreasonable in many 
cases, and quite appal the impecunious 
beginner; but it is the experience of 
successful business men that advertising 
pays. A fictitious name, if accepted by 



142 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

those who are to be responsible for the 
advertiser's honesty and capability, may 
be substituted for the real one, and a 
post-office address given instead of the 
residence. 

Some ladies have their leisure mo- 
ments profitably employed by shopping 
for friends at a distance; and this can 
be done without the aid of circulars or 
advertisements. It lightens, too, the la- 
bors and perplexities of those unfortu- 
nates who, on a hurried visit to the city 
are often obliged to waste much pre 
cious time and strength, and encroach 
upon limited trunk accommodation, to 
satisfy the demands made upon them 
often by mere acquaintances. The very 
fact of their going to the city seems a 
sufficient reason for their doing the shop- 
ping of the community; and weary feet, 
car fares, and loss of time are never taken 
into consideration. It would be well 






SHOPPING ON COMMISSION. 143 

for those victims of imposition calmly to 
announce their intention of shopping on 
commission at every visit to the city, to 
defray their expenses thither; and, if 
this object were not accomplished, they 
would certainly find themselves in pos- 
session of their time. 

In shopping for friends one has the 
advantage of knowing their individual 
tastes and needs; while the customers 
have the comfort of perfect confidence in 
the person to whom they intrust their 
money and purchases. When shopping 
is executed with taste and economy, it 
is almost worthy of being called an art ; 
and a natural aptitude is indispensable 
to success in making it an occupation. 

Among newspaper advertisements, 
those for agents of various kinds occupy 
much space and promise large pecuniary 
returns, Book-agents, in particular, for 



144 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

" the best selling work ever known," are 
greatly in demand; and if the statements 
could be credited, even with a discount, 
any one of "fair education and pleasing 
address," engaging in this occupation, 
might well feel on the high - road to 
fortune. 

It is not a calling that commends it- 
self to the shrinking and refined ; and 
yet in some instances it has been taken 
up, as a temporary resort, by ladies be- 
longing to this class with very fair suc- 
cess. " A hole may be the accident of 
a day, but a darn is premeditated pov- 
erty ;" and, acting upon this principle, 
ladies who are in want of money for 
some special purpose often prefer a short, 
exciting, perhaps somewhat unpleasant, 
experience of this kind to a tedious ap- 
prenticeship at teaching, or a more per- 
manent engagement in regular business. 
This has, at least, the advantage of being 



AGENCIES. 145 

taken up and dropped at pleasure; it 
needs no previous preparation, and very 
little, if any, capital. 

A story is told of " an educated New 
York lady who wished to earn a liveli- 
hood, and, not seeing any other way 
open, she became a book-agent. She got 
a horse and buggy, and rode through 
the country, and was very successful. 
She met with a young lady who was 
very anxious to join her. They made a 
great deal of money, and wrote a book 
of their travels." 

It is a somewhat unusual thing to see 
an agent of any kind who looks like a 
lady or a gentleman, or who is interest- 
ing in any way; and for this reason, 
doubtless, they are connected in the 
public mind with tramps, and are often 
treated accordingly. Many of them de- 
serve nothing better, as they are pertina- 
cious and disagreeable to an incredible 
10 



146 MOXEY-MAKLNG FOR LADIES. 

extent ; and all the members of the same 
calling are obliged to suffer in conse- 
quence. 

But a lady who undertakes this occu- 
pation in a lady-like manner will seldom 
fail to meet with respectful consideration, 
if not with subscribers; and, with the 
right book in the right place, she can 
also count upon the latter. An account 
of some actual experiences may serve to 
encourage the uninitiated who contem- 
plate making a trial of their powers. 

Miss G was a pretty, attractive 

girl, not at all accustomed to " roughing 
it;" but she found herself all at once 
most unpleasantly scant of money, and 
with an inconvenient fondness for the 
velvet and roses of life. Being of an en- 
terprising turn of mind, and having no 
guardians to restrain her, she resolved 
to make a new departure of some kind ; 
and, on the assurance of a respectable 



AGENCIES. 147 

publisher that book -agents really did 
make money, she invested a dollar or two 
in a prospectus and started forthwith. 

Calling herself by another name w T hich 
began with the same letter, and bearing 
a letter of recommendation from the 
publisher to a minister in the country 
town which she had chosen for her first 
field of labor, the young lady went, on 
her arrival, to the hotel where she had 
been directed, and was fortunate enough 
to find already there the very minister 
she was in quest of. He was a courte- 
ous gentleman, and, taking Miss G 's 

cause up vigorously, he recommended 
her book to the best people in the place, 
who, when she called upon them, were 
quite ready to become subscribers. 

Having profitably exhausted A , 

Miss G proceeded to the next town, 

with a letter of introduction from her 
clerical friend to a brother minister. 



148 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

This gentleman and his wife kindly 
urged her to make their house her home 
during her sojourn in the place, and the 
young lady gladly accepted this hospita- 
ble invitation, which spared her from the 
exposure and dreariness of a hotel. A 
pleasant fortnight was spent at the par- 
sonage, and eighty dollars cleared in 
money, besides a present to her kind en- 
tertainers; and, with two or three let- 
ters from these friends to people of note 

in the neighboring township, Miss G 

resumed her travels. 

The book she offered was the biogra- 
phy of a prominent and popular charac- 
ter, its tendency a good one, and hence 
it was always endorsed by clergymen ; 
while its moderate price placed it with- 
in the reach of almost every one. The 
young agent found a pleasant reception 
everywhere, and received constant invi- 
tations to dinner and tea: was extensive- 



AGEXCIES 149 

ly questioned in regard to her motives 
for embarking in such an enterprise; 
while kind, motherly women gave her a 
great deal of good advice. 

She never met with rudeness but once, 
and that was on a lonely country road ; 
after that she carried a pocket-pistol for 
self-defence ; and many a well-intention- 
ed man, passing the girlish figure that 
tripped so gracefully along, little dream- 
ed of the deadly weapon on which her 
hand rested, ready for immediate use. 
She never did use it, but it gave her a 
sense of protection to carry it. 

After passing a winter and spring in 

her self chosen occupation, Miss Gr 

found herself in possession of the com- 
fortable little sum of nine hundred doL 
lars. This was doing far better than 
she could have done in any other w T ay, 
and she had enjoyed some very amusing 
experiences; but, notwithstanding her 



150 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

success, she decided to retire permanent- 
ly from business. During her visit at 
the parsonage she met a professional 
gentleman, who manifested an especial 
interest in her; and, as this interest 
plainly increased during the winter — be- 
ing expressed in the shape of letters and 
flying visits at the various points where 
the young lady stayed — it was finally re- 
turned, and ended, as such things usual- 
ly do, in an engagement. " Culminated," 
however, would be a better word, as the 
interest has never ended at all, after sev- 
eral years of marriage. 

Miss G 's trousseau was bought 

with her earnings as book -agent; and 
she and her husband have had many a 
laugh over her adventures. But he al- 
ways maintains that it was a dangerous 
step to travel under an assumed name, 
as some one who knew her might have 
appeared in the most unexpected place 



AGENCIES. 151 

— people have such a surprising faculty 
for turning up where they are least want- 
ed — and this would have resulted most 
unpleasantly. The lady laughingly in- 
sists, however, that as no such person did 
appear, she took the wiser course in not 
having her real name associated with the 
role of a book-agent. 

Miss Thorne was an altogether differ- 
ent person : severely plain, and with an 
aspect of always doing her duty, she was 
what some people call " well along " in 
the vale of single sisterhood. There was 
nothing frivolous in her attire or her 
speech, no suavity of manner, but a style 
of address that was most directly to the 
purpose. She looked like just what she 
was, a plain, sensible school-teacher ; and 
it was evident that her success as a book- 
agent must depend entirely on the merits 
of the book — there was no personal mag- 



152 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

netism about Miss Thorne with which 
to draw subscribers. 

She was wonderfully successful, and 
that, too, with an old-fashioned relig- 
ious work that she carried year after 
year, and that never seemed to lose 
its interest. But she went bravely 
under her own name — she was not in 
the least ashamed of it, because she 
was well-known and respected; and 
friends in one place passed her on to 
friends of theirs in another. She al- 
ways knew just where she was going 
to stay beforehand ; and each morning 
her list of calls was made out for the 
day. 

Miss Thome's accounts showed that 
she certainly cleared over $2000 a 
year ; and her avowed object of making 
$10,000 before retiring seemed likely to 
be realized. She had an invalid sister, 
whom she boarded with some friends in 



AGEXCIES. 153 

the inland city where she had taught 
school; and to buy a comfortable home 
for this sister and herself was the end 
for which she worked. 

Miss Thorne received the very max- 
imum of percentage ever allowed to 
agents, the publishers of subscription 
books being eager to secure her services 
upon almost any terms — she was so em- 
inently respectable; and people seemed 
to feel at once that her statements could 
be relied on. She never failed to deliv- 
er her books at the appointed time; and 
subscribers never failed to find them all 
that the prospectus represented them. 
Miss Thorne considered a substantial, 
well-known book the best investment 
for an agent; and she did not approve 
of carrying more than one work at a 
time. She received fifty per cent., or 
half the price of the volume; Miss 
G received forty. The latter is the 



154 MONEY-MAKIXG FOR LADIES. 

ordinary commission ; and occasionally it 
is a little less. 

Subscription books are often publish- 
ed in numbers ; but these are more trou- 
blesome to deliver, and involve more 
care and responsibility, than a single 
volume ; people, too, are often suspicious 
of them, as they have been known to 
give out before the subject was finished. 
But, on the other hand, so small a sum of 
money is required at once that the total 
cost is scarcely felt ; and this makes them 
quite popular. Servant-girls are partic- 
ularly addicted to this kind of literature. 

When some particular book or period- 
ical is to be introduced into a parish or 
society, and a list of names is furnished 
belonging to people who are sure to 
want it, the position of agent, for some 
lady in want of money, is by no means 
unpleasant. Her subscribers are pre- 
pared for her visit, and, instead of regard- 



AGENCIES. 155 

ing it as an intrusion, they are rather 
disposed to feel grateful to her for 
bringing them what they desire to have. 

Agents are employed for many other 
things besides books; but a lady could 
scarcely undertake the sale of them in 
person, as it savors too much of the ped- 
dler. Many articles of general use meet 
with a ready sale in country villages — 
where, if they are kept at all, they are 
generally of inferior quality at a higher 
price. 

A lady who wished to dispose of some 
small wares which, if sold, would yield 
her a good profit, went to a village hotel 
and en^a^ed board for a week; then 
she requested the landlord to send her 
two or three bright boys who were anx- 
ious to earn some money. The boys ap- 
peared, glowing with expectation, and 
each one received a box of neck-ruffles, 



156 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

to be sold by the dozen at a very mod- 
erate price. With many exhortations to 
carry their burdens carefully, they were 
despatched in different directions; and, 
before many hours had elapsed, each 
boy had disposed of his stock and want- 
ed another box. A small percentage on 
each dozen sold had roused their ener- 
gies to excitement pitch ; and the wor- 
thy villagers seemed in danger of being 
ruffled up to their eyes. 

The work went briskly on for a week ; 
by that time the neighborhood for two 
or three miles around was quite ex- 
hausted, and it was necessary to make a 
change of locality. The real agent had 
passed her time comfortably in her room, 
while her subordinates, like busy bees, 
improved each shining hour, and did all 
the work, both parties being thoroughly 
satisfied with the results of this arrange- 
ment. Ruches and ruffles are particu* 



AGENCIES. 157 

larly salable wares in country places; 
they save so much trouble in the way 
of collars; and other small articles that 
would do equally well might be added 
at discretion. 

Corsets, braces, etc., are frequently sold 
in this way; also fancy soaps and per- 
fumery; and on articles of this kind a 
hundred per cent, is sometimes given to 
agents. It is undoubtedly a money- 
making business; and, when proper as- 
sistants could be found, an enterprising 
lady might make it very profitable, with- 
out doing more than advancing the cap- 
ital and purchasing the goods. 

The " directions " furnished to agents 
are often very comical, and of little use 
in the way of guidance. Those who 
study them most faithfully, and tax the 
memory with them for emergencies, do 
not acquit themselves half as successful- 
ly as do those who follow their natural 



158 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

promptings, and adapt their course to 
circumstances as they arise. 

A horse and buggy, with a boy to 
drive, will be found almost indispensa- 
ble, in the country, to the book-agent, 
and especially when a number of books 
are to be delivered ; but these articles, 
boy included, can generally be hired by 
the day or half-day for a moderate sum, 
that does not count in comparison with 
the profits. 



GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 159 

Chapter X. 

GARDEXIXG FOR PROFIT. 

Advantages of a Country Residence. — Value of a Gar- 
den-patch. — What Has Been Done. — "Want of En- 
terprise. — A Small Garden Well Managed. — What 
a Woman Might Do. — Opportunities in Fruit-rais- 
ing. — The Capabilities of Currants. — A Condensed 
Strawberry Farm. — How to Start and Manage it. — ■ 
Quinces to the Front. — Advantages and Drawbacks. 
— Fruit-growing Generally. 

Country residents have, in man) 7 in- 
stances, greater advantages than their 
city friends in the way of opportunities 
for money-making ; and among the most 
profitable rural and semi- rural occupa- 
tions are the raising of flowers, vegeta- 
bles, plants for medicinal and other pur- 
poses, the collecting and arranging of 
ferns and autumn leaves for ornamental 
uses, etc. ; also the care of bees, poultry, 
and other live stock. 



160 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

Many a careworn woman, struggling 
with her housework, and finding it next 
to impossible to make both ends meet, 
has only to look into her garden-patch 
and see there the foundation of a differ- 
ent order of things, which might easily 
be made to culminate in an able-bodied 
Bridget in the kitchen, a half-grown boy 
at work outside, and the lady herself en- 
gaged in the lighter occupation of sorting 
fruit and vegetables, or tying up plants. 
At another time she might be balancing 
her poultry accounts, or calculating her 
prospective honey — not forgetting the de- 
lightful employment of the " king in the 
parlor" who was counting out his money. 

A popular writer relates the experi- 
ence of two sisters, who found them- 
selves sorely put to it for the means of 
living, in spite of owning a comfortable 
house and garden. A wise friend, who 
boarded with them, pointed out the gar- 



GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 151 

den as a source of revenue ; and, some- 
what incredulously, they adopted her 
suggestions. 

A boy to keep the garden in order 
seemed to have come to them naturally 
with their other stock, and the boy was 
at once employed in gathering the vege- 
tables daily and disposing of them in 
the village. It was already late in the 
summer when the experiment began, 
and the crops had been planted without 
reference to anything but home con- 
sumption, which prevented them from 
being so remunerative as they could 
easily have been made. The returns 
were, nevertheless, very encouraging, al- 
most every day bringing a respectable 
income from corn, beans, tomatoes, etc. 

It is a well-known fact that, in coun- 
try villages, people who do not raise 
their own fruit and vegetables really 
suffer for want of them, being obliged to 
11 



162 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

depend on the travelling huckster, or 
the nearest town, for what supplies they 
can get. And yet how seldom any one 
is found with sufficient enterprise to an- 
ticipate these needs, and raise fruit and 
vegetables purposely to supply them ! 
Even so small a space as half an acre, 
if cultivated to its utmost capacity, and 
plauted with j)opular vegetables for 
family use, would yield a fair return 
in money, besides supplying the owner 
with the most healthful of summer food. 

An account of a small garden success- 
fully managed may furnish encourage- 
ment to those who think they have too 
little land to cultivate for profit. 

Originally a carrot -patch, part of it 
was then devoted to onions, and " all 
round the edge of the onion bed," says 
the owner, "planted with Wethersfield 
Eed, I sowed parsley seed, and, between 
the rows of Carter's First Crop Pease we 



GARDENING FOE PROFIT. 163 

put in dwarf celery for a second crop af- 
ter the last hoeing. Stout Anselm work- 
ed the ground with the horses, at the 
time of the carrot and other green crop 
hoeing, and made the headlands of pota- 
toes. I procured strong-rooted currants 
and gooseberries, and planted them in 
rows wide enough apart for the horses 
to cultivate, and grew every kind of 
vegetable the first year, except aspar- 
agus. 

"Since then, a bed of this has been 
made, and is the most eagerly sought 
and highly prized of them all. Two 
rows of strawberries, planted along the 
fence, supply us w r ith mammoth Jocund a 
sufficient for preserves and a good table 
supply ; while, by keeping our few rasp- 
berries cut back and trained to a trellis, 
we have the large fruit, and enjoy it bet- 
ter than any we could buy. The early 
Vermont potato is a superior variety, 



164 MOXEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

and we use early and late corn to pro- 
long the season. 

"It is astonishing how small a piece 
of ground will supply a family, if it is 
properly enriched, and attention paid to 
planting wide, with a view to a second 
crop. Radishes among beets are soon 
out of the way ; so is lettuce among 
carrots ; and at the same time this prac- 
tice tends to keep the garden tidy and 
free from unsightly rubbish. I sowed 
some of the low-growing annual flowers 
along the sides of my vegetable beds, 
and their bright bloom was always be- 
fore me when gathering anything for 
dinner. 

"Turnips, I found, did well, even late, 
between the rows of ouions, which were 
pulled up late in August and laid to 
dry. The turnip-fly does not seem to 
like the smell of onions, and left ours 
unmolested. And for the squashes, both 



GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 1(35 

summer and winter, which we grow, I 
found diluted cow- manure effectual in 
keeping off the bugs and strengthening 
the plants. Up the side of the house 
grows a Delaware grape-vine now; and 
half a dozen damson plum-trees, not far 
off, supply us with this choice preserve. 

"I keep the rubbish in the compost- 
heap all winter, and make it the place 
for soap-suds and other good things ; and 
when the pile is removed in spring to 
the garden, its removal leaves a rich 
spot, where one may safely drop a few 
melon and cucumber seeds ; and, if cov- 
ered with a pane of glass placed over a 
bottomless box, the melons ripen a week 
earlier than in the open air. 

" Half a dozen tomato-plants put into 
a warm, dry, not too rich, corner supply 
us for first use; and a few later plants, 
a second crop for preserving and can- 
ning, may be put in after any of the 



1(36 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

early vegetables — spinach, beets, or rad- 
ishes — are pulled. Cabbage and cauli- 
flower are grown in small quantities, the 
trouble with the caterpillar being so 
great that we have to apply air-slacked 
lime several times; and then, if the 
plants chance to be neglected for a few 
days, Ave find the leaves are riddled. 

"In spite of these drawbacks, however, 
the little garden was found to be a source 
of real profit, as well as pleasure ; and 
almost any other well -cultivated plot 
could be made equally productive. The 
most timid of women in business enter- 
prises, and with neither man nor boy in 
the family to depend on for help, might 
venture to hire sufficient labor to put 
her piece of ground in order, and plant 
it with fruit and vegetables — confident 
that she could dispose of enough, at least, 
to pay all expenses and keep her table 
well supplied. This of itself is some- 



GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 1(37 

tiling to accomplish; and there would 
be scarcely a doubt of her doing much 
more." 

There are many small avenues of 
profit connected with fruit-raising that 
seem to be quite overlooked. The reg- 
ular farmer or fruit- raiser considers them 
too small for his notice; and this is just 
where a woman, without much to invest, 
will find her opportunity. 

For instance, almost every one wants 
currants, or what may be called the re- 
sults of currants ; they are useful in so 
many ways; and yet a few straggling 
bushes, that receive little or no atten- 
tion, are the only evidences of their cul- 
tivation in ordinary places. Experience 
proves that they are comparatively little 
trouble to raise, and that a good harvest 
may be reaped from a small outlay. 
While abundantly paying the cultivator 



158 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

at three dollars a bushel, they are often 
sold for four dollars. 

There is always a market for currants; 
and the fruit may be kept from the de- 
vastating worm by dusting the bushes 
with hellebore. To keep it also from 
the early bird, which catches a great 
many things besides the worm, it is 
safer to plant the white varieties — the 
bright gleam of the red fruit acting as 
a signal for a ready-made feast. 

A successful cultivator advises plant- 
ing for profit the White Dutch, Versail- 
laise, Cherry, and Victoria, and says: 
"The ground should be well-drained, in 
order to prevent frost -heaving, as the 
bush is easily pried out when there is 
much freezing and thawing, with little 
snow. My plan is to set the bushes in 
rows ten feet apart, and six feet in the 
row. Between the rows corn or any 
hoed crop may be planted. In the rows 



GARDENING FOR PROFIT. ItfQ 

plant beans or potatoes. Cultivate and 
hoe the whole ground. Always slightly 
hill the currants at the second or last 
hoeing. 

"It is a good plan to have a patch 
of gooseberries near the currants. The 
worms will appear first on the goose- 
berries, and can be promptly disposed 
of with two dustings of hellebore. They 
will then not appear to any extent, if at 
all, on the currants. It is best to apply 
the hellebore when there is dew on the 
bushes." 

An acre or a half-acre of ground could 
be made in this way quite a source of 
profit, as a lady, besides disposing of 
the fresh fruit as opportunity offered, 
could convert the remainder into jelly 
and wine with still better results. The 
red currant is, in spite of the birds, a 
desirable variety to raise for manufact- 
uring purposes, in view of the rich 



170 MONEY-MAKING FOK LADIES. 

ruby color that makes the preserve at- 
tractive. 

Several acres of currants would pro- 
duce a handsome yield in every way; 
and a lady would find more remunera- 
tion and less care in devoting her ener- 
gies to some particular item, for which 
there is a steady demand, than to at- 
tempt a little of everything. 

Considering the acres of strawberries 
already cultivated for marketing pur- 
poses, and the expense and risk attend- 
ant upon a large enterprise of this sort, 
it might not be w T ell for a lady to under- 
take it to any extent. There is a fasci- 
nation about it, however, to women, ever 
since the time, some years ago, when 
two needle -women published their ex- 
perience with an acre of strawberries, 
plainly showing that the hoe was might- 
ier than the needle — the weeding and 



GARDEN IXG FOR PROFIT. 171 

picking of a few weeks being rewarded 
tenfold more than the steady sewing of 
an entire year. 

If cows could be made to give cream, 
one cream cow would pay better than 
five milk cows; and on this same prin- 
ciple a small strawberry -patch, under 
high cultivation, would yield a greater 
profit than an acre worked in the ordi- 
nary way. This strawberry-bed should 
be under glass (or a cheap substitute 
for it) ; and so little space would be 
really needed that it might even be lo- 
cated in a city yard. For the distinctive 
feature of these strawberries w^ould be, 
not the quantity raised, but the quality, 
and also their being ready for use some 
time in advance of the ordinary market. 
If large and handsome-looking, and ripe 
by the first or middle of April, they 
could be disposed of at a high price to 
confectioners and private purchasers. 



172 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

Where there is a strawberry -bed al- 
ready planted, a portion can be selected 
as free from weeds as possible, and with 
all the plants young and healthy. A 
good coat of short, unfermented manure 
or droppings will greatly hasten the ri- 
pening of the fruit, besides increasing 
the yield ; 'and the plants should then 
be protected with a sash. On very cold 
nights sash and bed should be covered 
with straw, old hay, or mats, to keep off 
the frost. 

For the berries, Triomphe and Jocun- 
da, planted in alternating hills in the 
same row, will be most satisfactory. 

A bed may also be started by layer- 
ing, from June till September, early and 
strong runners in small pots — when 
well-rooted to be transplanted to larger 
pots, and the soil so arranged as to make 
them grow T most vigorously in the au- 
tumn. The soil for the bed should be 



GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 173 

very rich, but need not be more than six 
or eight inches deep; and the plants 
must be knocked very carefully out of 
the pots, not to disturb the roots, and 
set in the ground at the rate of about 
four to every square foot. The glass 
should then be put on, and great care 
taken to air properly in cold weather. 
The plants will also require an occasion- 
al watering, unless there are plenty of 
warm rains in February and March, 
during which the sash can be opened. 

A very moderate piece of ground, 
scarcely more in size than a long, narrow 
flower-bed, treated in this way, and filled 
with the prepared plants about the mid- 
dle of January, will produce a great 
many quarts of very fine berries by the 
first of April; and fresh strawberries at 
this season have been sold as high as 
five dollars a quart. 

The strawberry experiment, on this 



174 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

bigh culture plan, is certainly worth 
trying. 

The quince is a neglected fruit that 
seems to offer large possibilities to the 
patient cultivator; and the convenient 
size of its low, spreading trees — mere 
bushes, in fact — renders it an easy sub- 
ject for a lady to undertake. Indepen- 
dently of its fruit, it is a pretty shrub, not 
half appreciated, with velvety -petaled 
blossoms of the palest pink, as becomes 
a member of the rose family, to which it 
belongs; and, even if not useful, it might 
justly be regarded as ornamental. 

But who has not a weakness for 
quince preserves, when properly made? 
For marmalade, jelly, and crystallized 
quarters of the fruit, and baked quinces ? 
These condiments, or confections, are al- 
ways appreciated to the fullest extent; 
yet the market supply of quinces is 
small, and almost any other fruit-bear- 



GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 175 

ing tree seems more popular with the 
growers of fruit. 

If the quince were a tree of wayward 
and perverse inclinations, repaying with 
base ingratitude the cultivation bestowed 
on it, and showing " nothing but leaves " 
in time of fruit, this state of things would 
be easily explained ; but no fruit im- 
proves more under culture, or makes a 
better return for the time and care be- 
stowed upon it. "While the visitor at 
agricultural and horticultural fairs," says 
some one, "may see large and varied 
collections of the best apples, pears, 
peaches, grapes, and other fruits, the col- 
lections of quinces are, in the majority 
of instances, confined to a few plates 
stored away on the back shelf, or in 
some out-of-the-way corner, where they 
are seen by but few others than the 
judges, and sometimes hardly by them. 
This indicates that fruit-growers and 



176 MONEY-MAKIXG FOR LADIES. 

owners of orchards generally give but 
little attention to its cultivation; and 
that people at large do not appreciate 
it to the degree it deserves." 

Perhaps people at large would appre- 
ciate it if it were properly cultivated 
and presented to their notice; and this 
is one of the departments of horticulture 
which an enterprising woman might en- 
gage in with the most encouraging re- 
sults. She could have a quince orchard, 
whether large or small; and she might 
find it more profitable to send out her 
fruit in the shape of preserves than to 
supply the raw material. Even the few, 
straggling, neglected trees in the ordina- 
ry garden will repay scraping and cleans- 
ing and thorough cultivation. 

The insect pests, from which the quince 
suffers, can generally be disposed of by 
applying a strong solution of soap-suds 
to the trunk and larger branches early 



GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 177 

in the spring, and several times during 
the summer. The borer, if still aggres- 
sive, may be exterminated by watching 
for the appearance of sawdust on the 
ground near the trunk of the tree, and 
when found, punching wire into its hole, 
or carefully cutting it out. If the trees 
are thoroughly examined iu September 
the borer's life may be cut short in its 
youth. 

The business of fruit-growing is one 
that has been successfully managed 
by ladies, who have found health and 
strength as well as profit in their calling ; 
but there is still abundant room for fresh 
enterprise, if directed to some special 
quarter which has not yet been the ob- 
ject of general attention. And this is 
an important element of success in al- 
most any business undertaking. 
12 



178 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 



Chapter XL 

AMONG THE FLOWERS. 

Scarcity of Women Florists. — First Steps. — Building 
a • Greenhouse. — Economical Plans. — Variety not 
Desirable. — A Rose Garden under Glass. — Extermi- 
nating Insects. — Heliotrope. — A Market for Cut 
Flowers. — Ferns, Autumn Leaves, Grasses, etc. — A 
Corner Ornament. 

That there should be so few women 
florists is often a subject of comment, as 
the care of flowers seems a calling pecul- 
iarly adapted to those who are supposed 
to have a natural love for the beautiful. 
Women will often cherish a few plants 
under endless household difficulties, but 
how seldom a man ever troubles himself 
about anything so unpractical ! Yet the 
florists are almost invariably men, en- 
gaged in a business which women could 
conduct as well, or better. 



AMONG THE FLOWERS. 179 

Perhaps the question will come, Why 
don't they try it, then ? and an answer 
may be found in the fact that the class 
of men who become florists is an entirely 
different one from the class of women 
who would be attracted to the occupa- 
tion. The men usually begin as work- 
ing gardeners, attaining by degrees the 
height of their ambition — to "set up" 
for themselves — and from long intimacy 
with work, not being in the least afraid 
of it, they are armed for all emergencies. 
They have also accumulated capital by 
degrees ; while the lady begins as a lady, 
hemmed in by conventionalities and crip- 
pled by want of capital. 

" Yes," responds Ysolte, " that is exact- 
ly my case ; how do you advise me to 
set about becoming a florist V 

For a first step, perhaps, the most 
sensible proceeding would be to visit 
some successful gardener and ask his ad- 



180 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

vice. If benevolently disposed (and peo- 
ple usually are in such cases), he will 
give *all necessary information, and state 
his opinion on the chances of success in 
any particular locality. A very good 
idea of the expenses and disappoint- 
ments attendant upon the raising of 
flowers, and the profits to be expected 
from their sale, may be obtained from 
him ; but he will say at once that a 
florist, to continue the business through- 
out the year, must build a greenhouse. 

He will also say that this, with proper 
heating apparatus, costs from $1000 to 
$1500, which will decide you at once to 
give up all idea of undertaking it. 

Do nothing of the kind ; but measure 
off your ground, engage your carpenter, 
and go in quest of a sash and blind fac- 
tory. Here you may purchase second- 
hand sashes for half or one-third the cost 
of new ones ; and you will find these ar- 



AM0XG THE FLOWERS. 181 

tides the most expensive part of your 
greenhouse. 

There is a great difference in green- 
houses, both in appearance and cost. If 
of the "lean-to" order — which means 
having but one sloping glass roof, facing 
the south, and with covered sheds on the 
north side — the cost will be compara- 
tively small ; but, as a rule, the more 
sunshine the more flowers. 

" Well, ma'am," said a worthy garden- 
er, " they don't cost much, if ye builds 
'em cheap. I gets a carpenter to build 
mine, and has 'em made kinder rough 
and cheap. They don't last as long, not 
more'n six years, but they does grow the 
flowers. I generally calculates to pay 
for 'em in two years, and when they 
tumbles down I builds another." 

This would be the best kind for a 
lady's venture, and if she could have the 
work done at a season w r hen carpenters, 



182 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

instead of being driven, are usually glad 
of a job, it would cost still less. A long, 
low building is better than a high one, 
as it is more convenient for handling the 
plants, besides insuring more sunshine. 
The size of the greenhouse would, of 
course, depend on the amount and vari- 
ety of stock to be accommodated in it; 
and, in this particular, the advice of a 
practical florist is highly desirable. 

The great fault of amateur greenhouse 
experiments is an ambition to raise all 
kinds of flowers in one small space; and, 
when the greenhouse is built for profit, 
this is a certain cause of failure. To se- 
lect one kind of flower alone, and con- 
centrate all the arrangements on devel- 
oping it to the highest degree of perfec- 
tion of which it is capable, would yield 
better returns and save much care and 
distraction of thought. 

There can never be too many roses. 



AMONG THE FLOWERS. 183 

They are called for at all seasons of the 
year, and will bring a good profit to 
the grower at the lowest market prices ; 
when selling at their best they are the 
most desirable of commodities. There 
is something particularly attractive in 
the idea of a rose house, which seems 
quite beyond an ordinary greenhouse; 
and a lady could manage such an under- 
taking not only with profit but with 
pleasure. 

The best way of carrying out such a 
plan would be to have a rose garden 
arranged for summer, and covered with 
glass at the approach of cold weather. 
Having the roses planted in beds instead 
of pots reduces the labor of cultivation, 
saves the expense of pots, and seems to 
agree better with the plants. Two of 
the loveliest and most profitable roses for 
this purpose are the Sofrano and Bon 
Silene; the Sofrano being in demand 



184 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

both for funeral and wedding orders, 
while the Bon Silene is equally popular 
for its brilliant color and delicate fra- 
grance. Both yield an abundance of 
bloom. 

Care and thorough fumigation with 
leaf tobacco, of the poorest and cheapest 
kind, will effectually disperse the greedy 
insects that make rose life miserable and 
exhaust the patience of the much-tried 
florist. Sprinkling with fine Scotch 
snuff will often kill small insects, and 
this remedy is less troublesome than 
smoking. "With perseverance in routing 
these active enemies, a rich soil, neither 
wet nor dry, and abundant sunshine, 
success in rose cultivation seems assured. 

The heliotrope requires the same con- 
ditions and treatment as the rose; and, 
as it is a constant bloomer and much 
in demand for its delicious fragrance, a 
number of plants could be cared for in 



AMONG THE FLOWERS. 185 

the rose house with very little more 
trouble. Roses and heliotropes together 
would provide a constant succession of 
bloom, and a very comfortable income 
for the cultivator. 

The object of the little greenhouse 
here described is to raise flowers for city 
emporiums, which can, within an ordi- 
nary distance, easily be sent in boxes, 
and look as fresh, with skilful packing, 
as though gathered from plants close at 
hand. The lady among her roses at 
home has nothing farther to do with 
their sale, except to receive a handsome 
remuneration for labor that is in itself 
a pleasure. 

In connection with the little green- 
house may be carried on another pleas- 
ant and profitable occupation — that of 
collecting and preparing ferns, autumn- 
leaves, vines, mosses, etc., for winter dec- 
oration. 



186 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

The most successful locality for either 
of these employments would be in or 
near a large town rather than a city, as 
the former would afford a better market 
with less competition. All the bright- 
colored leaves, the various native ferns, 
some wild vines, mosses, and even flow- 
ers, if prepared so skilfully as to retain 
their beauty at least through one season, 
are quite in demand ; and while many 
enjoy gathering and preserving them for 
themselves, others do not have the same 
opportunity, or are disinclined to take 
the trouble. 

Great care and deftness and taste are 
all required to bring this work to per- 
fection ; and only by doing it in the 
most thorough manner, that will pre- 
serve the brightness and beauty of these 
natural ornaments, without making them 
look in the least artificial, can any degree 
of remunerative success be attained. 



AMOXG THE FLOWERS. 187 

Originality and durability of treatment 
will meet with a just reward ; and to 
avoid all appearance of stiffness in tilings 
from which all life has been pressed out 
is the triumph of skill. 

A tall, gracefully-shaped vase — which, 
for this purpose, could be painted a dull 
Indian-red, or have cambric of this color 
drawn tightly over it — filled with plumes 
of feather-grass, cat-tails, thistle-pompons, 
milk-weed-pods, and seed-vessels of va- 
rious kinds, artistically mingled with 
ferns, bright leaves, and vines, would be 
a very simple corner ornament, and yet 
a very salable one. The vase should be 
large enough to stand on the floor, while 
its contents should reach half way to the 
ceiling. 

This is only one of many suggestions 
that might be made ; for the capabilities 
of leaves, ferns, etc., are infinite. 



188 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 



Chapter XII. 

BEES AND POULTRY. 

Recommendations of Bee-culture. — Profit in Keeping 
Bees.— A Lady's Testimony.— Two Western Girls. 
— How to Prevent Stinging. — "How am I to Be- 
gin ?" — Swarming Prevented. — Wintering Bees.— 
Making Honey from Sugar. — Pink Honey. — Profits 
from Hens. — Accommodation for Poultry. — Gener- 
al Care. — A Frenchwoman's Experience. — Roses and 
Honeysuckles. — French Soil. — Horse-flesh as Food. 
— Artificial Hatching. — The Barn-yard Fowl. — A 
Paying Business. — Rules for Successful Poultry- 
raising. — Spring Chickens. — Pigeons. — Proper Shel- 
ter. — Dutchies, or Common Runts, most Profitable. 
— A Flock of Turkeys. — Causes of Failure. — Deli- 
cacy of Young Turkeys. — Carefulness in Feeding. 
— Ducks and Geese. 

The culture of bees seems to accord 
naturally with the culture of flowers; 
and, in connection with a garden, it is a 
comparatively easy matter to raise bees. 



BEES AXD POULTRY. 189 

They take up little room, generally 
"find" and take care of themselves, and 
have not, like poultry, a morbid appe- 
tite for seeds and summer vegetables. 
Bee-raising particularly commends itself 
to ladies, because there is so little labor 
involved in it; it is like having a colony 
of small slaves at work, while the own- 
er is occupied with other things, or en- 
joying the sweet do - nothingness that 
comes of accomplished tasks or abundant 
means. 

That bees are a great source of profit 
abundant experience proves; and, as 
they do not require private acres for 
promenading, they may be kept to ad- 
vantage even in the city. But they are 
never found there; and, even in the 
country, it is very rare to find a lady en- 
gaged in keeping them to any extent. 
And yet they are the best paying in- 
vestment in live stock that can possibly 



190 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

be made as an incidental occupation, 
which is just the subject in question- 
affording large returns for a moderate 
outlay, and involving very little after- 
expense. 

It is stated in an agricultural report 
that a lady bought four hives for $10, 
and in five years she was offered $1500 
for her stock, and refused it as not enough. 
In addition to this increase in her capi- 
tal, in one of these five years she sold 
twenty-two hives and four hundred and 
thirty pounds of honey. On the strength 
of this, the writer declares that almost 
any woman in the city, as well as in the 
country, can manage bees, and make more 
profit than in any other employment re- 
quiring so little time and labor, 

Two girls in Michigan are said to be 
successfully engaged in bee - keeping ; 
they have fifty swarms of bees, and have 
sent recently to market eleven thousand 



BEES AND POULTRY. 191 

pounds of honey, worth $3000. Here, 
adds the narrator, is a new employment 
for many girls, who could make a good 
living in this business. 

The most serious objections to bees 
are stinging and swarming; but, in re- 
gard to the former, Italian bees, which 
are the most profitable and desirable in 
every way, are said also to be amiable, 
and not at all disposed to sting. Be- 
sides, a French scientific journal has pub- 
lished " a safe and convenient method " 
of getting the honey from the hives. 
A quarter of an ounce of chloroform is 
poured upon a handkerchief, which is 
laid on a plate resting upon a sheet or 
table-cover spread on the ground. An 
iron gauze sieve is then laid upon the 
sheet over the plate. The hive is care- 
fully lifted from the bench and set upon 
the sieve; the sheet is drawn closely 
around the hive, to enclose the fumes of 



102 MONEY-MAKING FO.. LADIES. 

the chloroform. A loud buzzing ensues, 
to which succeeds perfect silence. Then 
the hive may be lifted, when the bees 
are found insensible, lying upon the 
sieve. The robbery is then proceeded 
w 7 ith, the hive replaced, and in a short 
time the bees, revived by the air and 
sunshine, return to their hive and their 
labor as if nothing had happened. 

" But how am I to begin V asks the 
bewildered reader; "what is done first? 
I never was near a hive of bees in my 
life !" 

The best beginning is to read some ex- 
cellent work on the subject, like Quim- 
by's "Mysteries of Bee-keeping;' 1 then 
to follow some very practical instruc- 
tions. " Get from one to four hives, ac- 
cording to your honey field and faith ; 
take them to a bee-keeper, who will place 
a good first swarm in each hive, and re- 
move them home. Or, if the seller is 



BEES AXD POULTRY. 193 

pleased to let them stand till fall, place 
boxes on them and let them stand till 
then. At the proper time in the fall 
remove the boxes, and take all home. 
With hives so constructed as to prevent 
the disposition to swarm, and the num- 
ber limited to the capacity of the field, 
they would sometimes yield honey to 
the amount of two hundred pounds a 
hive in one season. On this plan there 
is little to do but to place and remove 
the boxes at the proper time. If the 
hive is so constructed as to give ample 
room in the breeding and wintering apart- 
ment, feeding is rendered unnecessary. 

If proper means are used to give room 
in the surplus boxes for all the colony 
the whole season, before any preparation 
is made for swarming, and the hives are 
effectually shaded from the sun, no watch- 
ing for swarms will be required, and no 
time necessarily devoted to them but to 
13 



194 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

put on the surplus boxes in season and 
remove them when full; and this may 
be done by a neighbor accustomed to 
the business, if one is apprehensive of 
danger in performing these or an}' other 
operations about the hive." 

This removes the second objection to 
bee-keeping, and reduces it to a very 
simple affair. These busy insects, how- 
ever, are quite fastidious about their sur- 
roundings, and do not like the direct 
rays of the sun. An orchard seems to 
furnish the right degree of shade, and a 
bee-keeper says that the best success 
he has ever known with bees has been 
in orchards and shaded door-yards. In 
point of situation, elevated ground is 
better than a low place or valley. 

Wintering bees is a far more serious 
matter than summering them, as swarms 
not properly cared for come out in the 
spring in a weak and dying condition. 



BEES AXD POULTRY. 195 

The difficulty often arises where to win- 
ter them: out- of- doors, or in — above- 
ground, or down in the cellar. They re- 
quire an even temperature of about for- 
ty degrees, and this is thought by the 
most successful bee-keepers to be best 
attained by cellar -wintering. "Others 
prefer out-door wintering, in which the 
bees are kept either in a so-called chaff 
hive, which has double walls, from four to 
eight inches apart, with the intervening 
space filled with chaff; or else the ordi- 
nary hives are surrounded by boards or 
a box, and the space between, which 
should be a foot wide, is filled with chaff 
or straw. In both cases the arrange- 
ments are such that the bees can fly 
whenever the weather is warm enough 
to induce flight." 

Making honey from sugar has been 
successfully tried : fifteen pounds of 
white sugar being made into a sirup 



196 MONEY-MAKING FOK LADIES. 

and fed to one of the experimenter's 
best stocks. The sugar was dissolved 
in little more than a pound of warm wa- 
ter. From a hole in the back part of the 
hive the bees entered into a tight box, 
and into this box the sirup was poured, 
covered with a thin board perforated 
with small holes, through which the 
bees could take up the sirup, and the 
board would settle down as the supply 
was exhausted. Over the box was 
placed a pane of glass, in order to watch 
the operations of the bees, and know 
when they required more sirup. 

At the beginning of the experiment 
the box on the top of the hive had one 
small comb, but it was empty. The 
sugar was dissolved as the bees needed 
it, and they took it up so fast that, at 
the end of twenty days, the fifteen 
pounds had disappeared. There were 
twenty pounds of honey though in place 



BEES AXD POULTKY. 197 

of it, and this was sold for thirty cents 
a pound. The sugar cost $1 80, and the 
honey brought $6 00 — the profit all be- 
ing the result of bee-labor in the short 
space of three weeks. 

The speculator adds : " The honey was 
most excellent, and I believe no one could 
have told the difference between it and 
the wild -flower honey. I shall try it 
again next fall, and I will flavor the 
sirup with a little tea, which I shall 
make from white clover- heads, and also 
add a little brandy, of which the bees 
are very fond." 

A lady could make her honey very at- 
tractive by putting it up in some novel 
and tasteful way, and a beautiful pink 
tint may be imparted to it by giving 
the bees a little cochineal. As an orna- 
mental dish for the table, in a handsome 
glass receptacle, it is unsurpassed ; and 
a wreath of clover blossoms and leaves 



198 MOXEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

around the edge would be both pretty 
and suggestive. 

A lady in Massachusetts has found it 
profitable to keep hens. Beginning with 
about sixty fowls in the spring, she 
raised from these four hundred and fifty 
chickens. During the season she sold 
$90 worth of eggs, and from the last 
of September to the last of January she 
sent to market a hundred and fifty pairs 
of chickens, which brought $260 — mak- 
ing $350 in all. 

A Pennsylvania farmer sold from 
thirty hens, in one year, eggs and chick- 
ens amounting to $430 78. The cost 
of feed and commissions for selling 
came to $161 84 — leaving a net profit 
of $268 94. Another farmer acknowl- 
edged that " he had sold eggs as low as 
ten cents a dozen, and made money on 
'em at that." 



BEES AXD POULTRY. 199 

"Few people," writes a poultry -keep- 
er, " think it worth while to spend mon- 
ey in furnishing suitable accommoda- 
tions for their hens, or time in looking 
after them. In too many cases among 
farmers the fowls are obliged to find 
their own accommodations, and have to 
put up with what happens to offer, 
whether comfortable or not. Where 
fowls have to resort to trees, fences, 
carts, pig-pens, wood-pile, or what not, for 
roosts, they have not suitable accommo- 
dations; when they have to make their 
nests in hay-mows, under stacks, in the 
weeds, or other out-of-the-way places, 
they are not treated as they should be. 
When the feeding is irregular and spas- 
modic, sometimes too much, at other 
times too little ; when the water supply 
is furnished for the most part only when 
it rains, or by stagnant pools or ditches, 
the owner is inviting cholera and other 



200 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

diseases. Poultry kept in this way will 
not be profitable ; and the same may be 
said of any other kind of stock. There 
is more clear profit, however, to be de- 
rived from a well-bred flock of poultry, 
when systematically looked after, than 
from any investment of an equal extent 
in the whole line of legitimate hus- 
bandry." 

A story is told of the experience of a 
French woman who was left a widow in 
very straitened circumstances, w 7 ith four 
children to educate and provide for. 
All her attempts so far to improve her 
fortunes had failed, to her utter discour- 
agement. Happening to stop one day 
at a small town where an agricultural 
fair was in progress, she followed the 
crowd, and became very much inter- 
ested in what she saw. Wandering 
to the poultry enclosure, she was soon 
•preoccupied with chaotic visions, until, 



BEES AND POULTRY. 201 

finally, a country gentleman approached 
her, and began to discourse upon fowls. 

Poultry exhibitions, he said, never sat- 
isfied him, and with fancy breeds he had 
no patience; the common he?i, properly 
cultivated, was worth them all put to- 
gether. While listening politely to the 
quaint speaker, the baroness perfected 
in her mind a plan which involved the 
education of hens, and promised a solu- 
tion of her difficulties. 

The result was a poultry enterprise of 
such magnitude as to be quite beyond 
the reach of ordinary aspirants; but it 
yielded a handsome income to the far- 
seeing French woman. The gradual steps, 
however, by which she reached such a 
pinnacle of success are not made visible, 
which is a serious loss to the reader in 
quest of information ; and the baroness 
in this narrative passes at once from an 
impecunious condition to the ownership 



202 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

of an expensive establishment. No one 
knows whether she began with ten fowls 
or fifty, nor where she got the money to 
begin at all ; there is only the broadly- 
stated fact that she successfully man- 
aged over thirteen hundred, and pro- 
vided them with palatial quarters. 

The building that accommodated these 
fortunate feathered charges is represented 
as having first and second stories divided 
into compartments. On the ground-floor 
were hatching-room, kitchen, grain-room, 
and store-room for eggs — the necessity 
for a kitchen having arisen from the cus- 
tom of cooking much of the food. The 
second story had a wide veranda, or gal- 
lery, attached, with a railway and turn- 
tables at the corners. This was a great 
aid to the work ; and every morning the 
four upper compartments were thorough- 
ly cleaned — the nests and boxes once a 
week. 



BEES AXD POULTRY. 203 

This wonderful poultry - house even 
had Venetian shutters back and front, 
to insure perfect ventilation — which, 
with cleanliness, is the best protection 
against vermin. In the coldest weather 
the shutters were not quite closed, as 
the building was comfortably warmed 
by hot-air pipes from the furnace-range 
in the kitchen. 

Care was also taken to give the fowls 
ample space for exercise; and this was 
secured by parks or yards of an acre 
and a half, extending from the four com- 
partments. These were planted with a 
constant supply of green food, to keep 
the poultry in good condition ; and the 
yards were separated by thick hedges, 
which extended to the pillars of the ve- 
randa. Xothing that would add to the 
comfort and well-being of the feathered 
inmates seemed to have been forgotten ; 
and a large shed in each yard was al- 



204 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

ways supplied with dry sand, that the 
fowls might "powder themselves" even 
on rainy days. 

Masses of shrubbery were planted 
here and there in the yards, to protect 
the fowls alike from the rain and from 
the heat of the summer sun ; and the 
fruit of the gooseberry and currant 
bushes adds a pleasant variety to their 
diet. Some elder - bushes originally 
planted in these parks were obligingly 
pulled up and replaced by raspberries, 
because it was found that the odor of 
their flowers was not agreeable to the 
hens! They condescended to eat the 
raspberries as fast as they ripened. 

This sounds unmistakably French ; but 
it had much to do with the good condi- 
tion of the baroness's poultry that their 
dwelling-place was entirely free from 
the close, disagreeable odor peculiar to 
hen-houses. There came instead, through 



BEES AND POULTRY. 205 

the Venetian blinds, the perfume of roses 
and honeysuckles, with which the veran- 
da-pillars were covered. "Why not flow- 
ers?" asked the gentle trainer of hens; 
" they cost nothing, and all creatures 
must, in some degree, be susceptible to 
aesthetic surroundings." 

A special park was provided for the 
little chickens, where they were supplied 
with everything that well - conducted 
young fowls are supposed to want : fresh 
grass, plenty of fat insects, shade, and 
quiet. The eggs were not hatched arti- 
ficially, nor were any fancy breeds to be 
found among these nursery inmates, the 
education of the common barn-yard fowl 
having proved entirely successful. 

The principal object of this immense 
establishment was the exportation of 
eggs; and these were produced in such 
quantities as to yield a handsome in- 
come above all expenses. 



206 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

There is said to be something in the 
nature of French soil — the presence of 
silex in considerable quantities — which 
makes the hens such wonderful egg-pro- 
ducers; but a writer who has studied 
the subject thinks that the absence of 
this quality might be made up by arti- 
ficial means. 

A man, living also in the vicinity 
of Paris, was represented as making 
$175,000 a year from the sale of eggs 
and fowls. His poultry was not treated 
like that of the baroness, being fed, for 
economy's sake, on horse-flesh, and lodged 
more practically and less picturesquely. 
All the old hacks of the city were pur- 
chased and slaughtered for food ; and, 
by selling the skin, hoofs, etc., enough 
was realized to pay for the whole. The 
flesh w\as cut from the bones and con- 
verted by a machine into mince-meat ; it 
was then slightly seasoned and put up 



BEES AXD POULTRY. 207 

iu casks, which were sent by railroad to 
the egg-farm — about twenty-two horses 
a day being used for this purpose. The 
fowls delighted in this food, and would 
lay an egg a- day in all seasons. 

The sheds, -offices, and other portions 
of this establishment were built around 
a quadrangle enclosing about twenty 
acres, which formed the general feeding- 
ground. This was divided by fences of 
open paling, only a limited number of 
fowls being allowed to herd together, 
and arranged in compartments accord- 
ing to age. Four years was the limit 
of existence. 

Before marketing, the fowls were put 
into the fattening coops for three weeks, 
and sent alive to Paris. A hen was nev- 
er allowed to sit. The breeding- rooms 
were warmed by steam to the same heat 
as that evolved by the hen while sitting. 
" A series of shelves, one above the oth- 



208 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

er, formed the nests, while blankets were 
spread over the eggs to exclude any ac- 
cidental light. The hatched chicks were 
removed to the nurser}^ each morning, 
and fresh eggs laid in to supply the 
place of empty shells. A constant suc- 
cession of chickens is thus insured ; and, 
besides, the feathers are always free from 
vermin." 

These, too, were the old-fashioned barn- 
yard fowl. Their flesh is far more deli- 
cate than that of the prize varieties. The 
inference seems plain that the more ani- 
mal food given, the more eggs, as the 
production of eggs always falls off at 
the season when insects disappear. Half 
an ounce a day of fresh meat, chopped as 
for sausages, is a sufficient allowance for 
one hen. 

No one was ever known to keep fowls 
under standingly and say that it did not 
pay; and some enterprising American 



BEES AND POULTRY. 209 

lady might do equally as well as the 
French baroness. She could begin with 
a flock of from fifty to one hundred; 
and, as the profit on each thoroughly 
cultivated hen often reaches the sum 
of $3 00 a year, an investment in poul- 
try can scarcely fail to be a paying 
one. 

Fowls are not so easily kept as bees, 
as they require room to range in, and 
never thrive so well in confined quar- 
ters. A person of experience says : " I 
am inclined to think that one thousand 
may be profitably kept under one roof, 
and with a few acres of forage-run, by 
adhering to the following rules : 

"1st. Let the roosting-house be of am- 
ple size, giving each fowl about two feet 
of perch room, and having it so venti- 
lated in winter that the air shall be 
pure. A ventilator in the roof is not 
sufficient ; there must be windows to 
14 



210 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

open (slide down from the top), accord- 
ing to the state of the weather. 

" 2d. Ample shed - room, connecting 
with the roosting - house, to give the 
fowls a chance to be protected from 
storms, and where a supply of water, 
gravel, old mortar, pounded charcoal, 
ground oyster-shells, etc., is within easy 
reach. 

" 3d. The business to be fully under- 
stood, and the fowls kept free of lice; 
feed to be corn, oats, buckwheat, and 
wheat- screenings, with boiled potatoes 
and meal occasionally, mixed w T ith cay- 
enne pepper, to be given hot in winter. 
Of course, I cannot give a hundredth 
part of all I might say on the subject 
in this article, but I will give general 
principles. 

"In regard to raising early chickens 
and later fowls for market, I have space 
to say but little; but 'there is money' 



BEES AM) POULTRY. 211 

in that branch of the business, and a 
good deal, too, if it be rightly managed. 
Early chickens, weighing about a pound 
each, will command $1 50 a pair in New 
York in July ; and the market has 
never been glutted with such young 
poultry." 

Pigeons are usually associated with 
half-grown boys, w r ho are given to spas- 
modic experiments with them of a com- 
mercial character, which never appear to 
result in much ready coin. But to those 
who understand them there is consid- 
erable profit in pigeons. 

They are not at all difficult to under- 
stand, nor are their wants in any way 
complicated. A corner of a barn -loft 
will answer for lodgings; and in sum- 
mer they will find their own provisions. 
Almost the only care they need is to 
clean the loft out twice a year. A fre- 



212 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

quent cause of failure with pigeons is to 
be found in the fact that, instead of fit- 
ting up a small loft with nests inside, 
boxes are nailed to the outside of the 
barn, and the squabs perish from being 
exposed to the inclemency of the weather. 
In winter pigeons will feed with the 
poultry. They will raise on an average 
eight or nine pairs of young in a year, 
which will find ready sale when four 
weeks old at fifty cents a pair. In win- 
ter they will bring seventy-five cents. 
If the stock consists of Dutchies, or com- 
mon runts, at a cost of $2 50 a pair, 
squabs twice the size of common ones 
can be raised, and these will, of course, 
command a proportionately higher price. 
Birds of the common variety, which cost 
only fifty cents a pair, will pay for them- 
selves within two months. 

Turkeys, too, are profitable on the 



BEES AXD POULTRY. 213 

same conditions that are necessary in 
regard to hens — care and intelligence. 

A flock of well-grown turkeys, accord- 
ing to a rural paper, make such an agree- 
able addition to the receipts of the farm, 
and they are often raised with so little 
trouble, that the seeming indifference of 
so many farmers with reference to them 
is something to be wondered at. The 
rules for breeding are simple and easi- 
ly understood; and failures are due to 
two prominent causes : one, the w r eather, 
which in some seasons puts at fault the 
utmost possible care; the other, negli- 
gence. 

"A hot and dry season is almost an 
essential for success with turkeys. This 
is so important that it is of little use to 
be in haste to get turkeys hatched early, 
as with chickens; though old birds are 
tough enough, young ones are exceeding- 
ly tender. If brought out by the first 



214 MOXEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

of June, it will generally be early enough. 
Even if they live through such chilly 
and damp weather as is common in May, 
they will not grow much until hot weath- 
er and bugs come to their relief; but let 
them hatch out in June, in weather which 
drives the breeder to the shade, and lit- 
tle turkeys just enjoy it; they will 
stretch themselves in the sun, and May 
off' with every token of delight. Damp, 
chilly weather is their ruin ; rain, abom- 
ination ; morning dew, a poison sure to 
blight the hopes of inexperienced or 
careless breeders. Turkeys must be al- 
lowed to range very freely to insure suc- 
cess, but not while the grass is wet ; that 
is, during the first two months or so of 
their lives. After that, one need not be 
quite so particular." 

These little turkeys require an unlim- 
ited supply of varied, fresh, green food, 
especially lettuce, dandelion leaves, dock, 



BEES AND POULTRY. 215 

young nettles, and onion tops ; and they 
must be fed entirely on soft food for 
some weeks, gradually introducing grain 
in small portions for the first few months. 

With care, a large number of turkeys 
may be profitably kept on a farm ; and, 
during the winter season, there is always 
a demand for them in the market. 

Ducks and geese are also desirable as 
sources of profit, where there is abundant 
room ; and on a large, well-watered farm 
they will thrive to the best advantage. 



21(3 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 



Chapter XIII. 

A FEW LAST WORDS. 

The Value of Small Things. — Suggestions in News- 
paper Paragraphs. — A Novel Pattern for an Auger. 
— Oyster and Snail Shells. — Improved Milk and 
Butter. — Profit in Tea-packing. — A Little Tea Store. 
— Cultivation of Mushrooms. — A Lady's Invention. 
— A Need to be Supplied. — Knowing What to Do. 
— Wasted Energy. 

Among the numerous suggestions for 
money-making contained in these pages, 
many out-of-the-way industries and in- 
ventions have been left unnoticed. A 
very little thing will sometimes lead to 
wealth, while large enterprises foil ; and 
observation and ingenuity are often of 
more value than the most plodding in- 
dustry. 

Paragraphs in the daily papers are 



A FEW LAST WORDS. 217 

very suggestive, and two or three clip- 
ped at random will show what may be 
done in out-of-the-way fields. 

Ransom Cook, of Saratoga Springs, 
who recently died at the age of eighty- 
seven, got his plan for making an auger 
that would bore at an angle with the 
grain (without starting with a gouge) 
by examining the lips of the worm com- 
monly known as the " wood borer " with 
a microscope; and from this he made 
his model, which proved a perfect suc- 
cess. Among the minor industries of 

Paris is the utilization of oyster and 
snail shells. Keepers of eating-saloons 
are required by law to put these shells 
in boxes by themselves, ready to be car- 
ried away by a person who has made a 
contract with the city for them. The 
oyster - shell is used often instead of 
mother-of-pearl in the manufacture of 
various fancy goods. 



218 MONEY-MAKIXG FOR LADIES. 

The Toledo Blade says there is a 
speedy fortune in store for some man 
who will open a shop in Toledo devoted 
to the specialty of pure milk and high- 
grade butter — kept conscientiously up 
to the standard, and offered to the pub- 
lic at from twenty-five to fifty per cent. 

above the market rates. A good 

business may be done by purchasing 
certain articles in their original pack- 
ages, and putting them up in a more de- 
sirable form. A firm in Philadelphia 
has made a fortune by repacking teas 
for miners' use, and shipping them to 

California and Australia. The tea 

business is very profitable; and a taste- 
ful little store, with a few cheap Chinese 
oddities in addition to the tea, could be 
managed by proxy, like the lunch-room, 
and made to yield a very respectable in- 
come. — —Raising mushrooms is a regu- 
lar occupation in France, and a French- 



A FEW LAST WORDS. 219 

man is now said to be in treaty for the 
use of the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, 
for this purpose. It is an industry that 
may be carried on in almost any cellar, 
and will find a market in every large, 
city. A lady who invented some at- 
tachment to a sewing-machine made her 
fortune by it ; and there is room for oth- 
er attachments and improvements, and 

other fortunes. If some ingenious 

woman will invent a button that will 
stay on boots, or something more com- 
fortable and lasting than the fasteners 
now in use, she will reap a large pecun- 
iary harvest. 

One of the great arts of money-mak- 
ing consists in the gift of knowing just 
what to do, according to one's powers 
and circumstances ; and we cannot better 
take leave of our subject than by quot- 
ing some excellent thoughts on wasted 
energy from the columns of a newspaper : 



220 MONEY-MAKING FOR LADIES. 

"Nobody can critically observe the structure of 
American social or domestic life without being struck 
by the immense amount of energy which is wasted in 
the woman's half of it. 

" In any case the American man finds ample outlet 
for his energies. With the average woman it is dif- 
ferent. She, too, recognizes the value of money : if 
poor, she wants to make it, and her anxiety to do this 
battles perpetually with her desire to do nothing which 
is strong-minded and unlady-like. How many hun- 
dreds of thousands of women in inland towns and 
country places, this August, are painting china, em- 
broidering towels with hideous sunflowers, sketch- 
ing that most ubiquitous of bores, the limp, mediaeval 
woman in her poke bonnet, or sending off voluminous 
manuscripts, all in the hope of earning money secretly ! 
She does not earn it. Her energy is wasted because 
she does not know how to bring it to bear. She is 
an amateur dabbler in half a dozen different arts, in- 
stead of a painstaking, conscientious worker in one 
little, unpretentious craft. Conscientious work in one 
direction will always bring wages in the end. Iu 
provincial communities, too, custom and prejudice are 
strongly opposed to the earning of money by women 
who rank as "ladies," except as artists and authors. 
Her energy is new wine in old bottles. The bottles 
do not break, but the wine is apt to turn sour and 
musty. 

" The mistake made by all these women whose en- 



A FEW LAST WOKDS. 221 

ergy is running to waste is, that their aims are too 
wide and too vague. A living is to be earned, not by 
general amateur, ladylike "pottering," as Carlyle grim- 
ly calls it, but by a definite trade or craft, followed 
accurately and openly. The power of an unmarried 
woman is in danger of growing diseased from want of 
outside objects ; the more reason, therefore, she should 
turn it away from herself. The poor she has always 
with her; and by the poor is not meant only the pen- 
niless, but the crippled, blind, and dumb of soul. A 
sufficient aim for such a one, too, is to fill the place 
and fulfil the duties of a gentlewoman in a mixed 
community, such as that of our American towns. But 
few of our American women realize that simple duty, 
and we see the results in the communities." 



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